Seriously? Apple patenting Gamepads for iPhone.

For a company that preaches the superiority of touch controls over the inferior gamepads of Sony and Nintendo's handheld devices, it seems rather unusual that Apple is in the process of patenting a gamepad-like attachment for their popular iPhone device.

Yeah, it looks kinda silly. But there's potential in this.

According to a report accompanying some of the concept drawings, Phillip W. Shiller, the Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, who had previously made the rather fiery comments regarding the iPhone's competitors, directly contradicts his statements regarding the capabilities of touch screens.

The device would be adding the obvious functions to the iPhone, D Pads, joysticks and like. But there would potentially be other features as well. The patent states that Apple would be planning to incorperate extras such as cameras, microphones and even a possible rumble feature.

If this device does make it's way into the hands of the public, you could possibly see an abundance of similar devices being released. Hopefully we can see something like ThinkGeek's rather cruel April Fool's joke, the iCade being released in the near future.

- Kyle K.