According to Patently Apple, Apple is looking to develop a new audio input port configuration for the iPod, iPhone and iPad devices. This is an effort by Apple to limit the amount of holes in their devices, since each “breaches the barrier that protects components inside the housing”.  [via]

Paul Marks at New Scientist writes:

Apple’s answer is to reduce the hole count by making them multifunctional. It proposes removing the need for a separate microphone aperture by making it part of the socket the headphone jack plugs into. This adds only a couple of milllimetres to the socket length – the mic fits behind the tip of the jack plug. The result: “A microphone can be added to a mobile telephone without the need for an external aperture.”