Microsoft hasn’t had a positive run with its mobile platform in the past, with the company officially admitting the failure of Windows Phone late last year. However, the Redmond giant isn’t stepping back and is rather pushing its apps as well as services to the both the Android and iOS platforms for maintaining a foothold in the smartphone market. And now, it seems that company is looking to tread into hardware accessories for these platforms if MSPowerUser’s reports are to be believed.
Microsoft has filed a patent for a new device that seems to look like a dock for the iPhone. Titled 'User Input Peripheral', the drawings of the patent reveal that the device will aid seamless connections between a supported Windows computer and an iPhone. It consists of a spring-loaded lightning connector in the middle surrounded by LED notification lights and buttons to make calls. There’s even a button to make Skype calls, showing that Microsoft is serious about pushing its trademark applications and services to other platforms.
In the patent, Microsoft describes that the device could be connected to a PC in both wired as well as wireless ways — there appears to be some sort of port and a cable for it to connect to PCs. As for wireless connections, Bluetooth is the preferred choice. Even when the device is in an ‘undocked’ state, it will continue to offer notifications from the PC as well as aid VoIP calls, if connected to the PC.
However, this is a patent, which means that the chances of this becoming a reality could be pretty slim. But if it happens for real, then we might be looking at Microsoft becoming one of the biggest names to join Apple’s ‘Made for iPhone’ program. It could also show that Microsoft is seriously interested in pulling users from the Apple ecosystem to the Windows platform by offering integration between all the mobile platforms.
(source)
