When Clay Andres of Apress first consulted me on a book idea about building iPhone Accessories I was a little skeptical. Ok, more then a little. But after discussing the book concept with its’ author, Ken Maskrey, I started to change my mind. Knowing first hand how difficult the “Works with iPhone” program can be, I was concerned there would not be enough material for a book. Its really hard to talk about stuff that you can’t talk about.
Then Clay asked me to be the TR on the book. My first comment was “What’s a TR?”. After we crossed that hurdle, I did my first technical review ever of a book. (If I missed anything…well it was my first. First times for everything tend to be awkward at best.) When I got home from the WWDC this was waiting at the door:
It was amazing to see it in print. I learned so much from this book and Ken. I didn’t know Ken before reviewing his book. But I came to learn what an amazing man this guy is. Ken is a great writer, Wind surfing instructor, a film writer, and can do both hardware and software (well) – a true Renaissance man. We have similar backgrounds in Aerospace. And both of us are not spring chickens. So I really started to enjoy this book and I looked forward to getting each chapter as it was completed.
I think iPhone Accessories have a bright future. If you want to dip your feet hard into it get this book. Everything from the Apple Accessory Framework, Design Patterns, Game controller example, Firmware, and the Apple program are covered. So I’m putting it on my recommended list. Even if I’m biased.
Buy on Amazon:
Building iPhone OS Accessories: Use the iPhone Accessories API to Control and Monitor Devices
