YC will back anything these days. Paul Graham talks about "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas" and tackling the real hard problems, and then we get a little controller for an iPhone. Yawn.
"Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people dismiss as a toy. In fact, that's a good sign. That's probably why everyone else has been overlooking the idea. The first microcomputers were dismissed as toys. And the first planes, and the first cars. At this point, when someone comes to us with something that users like but that we could envision forum trolls dismissing as a toy, it makes us especially likely to invest."
There are already about 4 other products exactly like this already on the market. I kind of question how large the third-party iPhone snap-on-controller market size is to necessitate both YC and Kickstarter.
That's the bit that surprised me most about this article. Controllers for phones are NOT new.
iCade Mobile, iControlPad, and the umpteen bluetooth ones that don't clip on, but connect wirelessly and give you a PROPER gamepad for your iPhone/iPad.
As for Android, you can connect PS3 controllers and any number of aftermarket ones like above.
I get that the above linked one works for both iOS and Android, but very few people own (and regularly game on) both types of phone at once, so needing a multi-platform controller seems like a pretty niche market.
Not to mention the new version of Blutrol (jailbreak tweak, see http://www.ringwald.ch/cydia/blutrol/) which lets you connect up and use with any game (not just dev-supported) an iCade, iControlPad, standard bluetooth keyboard, PhoneJoy, Wiimote, or Zeemote JS1.
Agreed, in fact I have never seen anyone using one of these smartphone gamepads and quite frankly I can see why: it's another thing you have to carry with you and besides not all games are/will be compatible.
