The latest version of the i.TV iPhone app allows hardware manufacturers to offer iPhone remote control capabilities for their devices, as reported on Pocket–lint.

We like i.TV’s cool television guide and movie listings features, which have been available since the app’s debut. Now the new i.TV version offers a “remote control framework” that allows “third parties to develop remote controls for use on the i.TV platform.” According to i.TV, TiVO is already doing this.

So, does i.TV 2.0 turn the iPhone into a remote control? Not exactly.

What they are providing is a software platform to integrate i.TV with other devices, potentially including other remote controls. However, hardware manufacturers will need to update their device firmware to interface with i.TV. Moreover, manufacturers will need to have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth integrated into their devices in order to communicate with the iPhone — otherwise, no remote control.

Bottom line: we subscribe to the vision, but because of its dependency on third-party hardware manufacturers to write custom code, and without the possibility of integrating with devices that don’t speak Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, i.TV can’t truly be “universal.”