iPad (iphone os) kernel extension

Question

I have previously written an application for Mac OSX that includes a kernel extension. It does not drive any real hardware but is instead an in-kernel IOKit service. Now the task is to figure out if porting of the whole application is possible on the iPad which basically means if kernel extensions can be written for iPad.

I have never had any experience with iPhone OS development before, so i am completely clueless about it. But from what i've heard iPhone OS based devices, iPad in particular, are very closed platforms. So is it possible to develop and distribute a kernel extension for iPads as a part of the application package? Do i have to sign for any specific apple developer program? Any other things i should know about?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you need to communicate with external devices (which is the only legitimate reason on iOS) then you need to contact Apple and become a registered peripheral developer. This membership allows manufacturers to use the "Made for iPhone" etc labels.

Once you're a member you can get access to the peripherals SDK which allows you to develop for devices that connect to the iPhone using the 30 pin dock connector.

Other than that you are not able to use IOKit on iOS.