Is wifi really the only way to send wireless data from iPhone to arduino?

Projects General Guidance
1

Android -> Bluetooth -> Arduino -----> Success!
iPhone -> hoops -> hurdles -> puking?

I have read that there is no way (without becoming a hardware manufacturer and getting approved) to send bluetooth data from your every day iPhone? Can anyone definitively tell me that wifi is the only way to make a project that should wirelessly receive input from an iPhone?

What we are talking about here is R,G,B values for a lighting controller.

2

Have you asked at the "Genius Bar at the Apple Retail Store "?

3

I guess some approved manufacturers may have such bluetooth slaves that you can hack. Unfortunately, everything apple is super expensive. Like if you get a blood pressure gadget thing that will measure your blood pressure and wirelessly sends data to your ipad. I think it's bluetooth serial but it's $100.

4

If you have a newer iPhone (4S or later), with Bluetooth V4, iOS 5+ supports serial communication over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). There are a couple of BLE shields now available.

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/bluetooth-low-energy-shield-p-1255.html?cPath=132_134

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rowdyrobot/arduino-ble-shield-connecting-the-ios-and-the-ardu?ref=card

Texas Instruments has published some demo code - http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Category:IPhone4SBLEDemo