Aside from the sporadic recent pockets of analogue here and there, you could say just about every other synth in the last 15-20 years has simply been software attached to a hardware UI. They could all effectively run as VSTi's on a computer given the more than adequate CPU DSP thesedays.
Hardware synths still appeal to me as they can be run standalone. Instead of having to lug a computer, soundcard, MIDI keyboard controller and cables around and have to interact with an OS on-screen via mouse (or touchpad, God forbid), all you need is a hardware synth with its own UI. Switches on in seconds, has full instant patch recall, a UI that matches its intended use, no (measurable) latency, and hopefully no software crashes.
There's something appealing about being disconnected from a computer screen and mouse, and instead tweak a dedicated UI and connecting directly with the sound. That is unless you have an DX7, Wavestation, FS1R or similar, where old skool hardware UI was a hindrance.
However the fact also remains that, unless you have a large onboard screen or similar, there are some things that hardware can never do (easily). Other than programming the arpeggiator, the Virus has done pretty well to be able to still edit and do everything from the hardware that you can from within VC.
To keep up with competition from other VSTs, I personally wouldn't necessarily mind if Virus Control went further still and allowed more things to be done in the studio via VC that can't necessarily be done via the hardware itself - such as graphically editing oscillator or LFO waveforms akin to Z3ta+, or enabling more flexible step sequencing like Massive, or even modular editing like the Nord G2, etc. - allowing you to save such edits back onto the hardware as selectable presets to be taken on the road.
Of course a touchscreen would be awesome and plug this gap, but there's more chance of me walking on the moon...
... Virus Control via iPad/Android on the other hand would be pretty funky, neatly offloading the cost of a touchscreen elsewhere and also allowing for iPad sequencer functionality. Maybe this is the iOS/mobile reference? However if they're only just running the advert, I doubt they'd have something ready in time for NAMM.
Kemper Digital (inc. Access) are a smaller company than I thought they were, little more than a dozen or so employees in total, and they've seemingly been been putting all their energy and manpower into Kemper Amps the last few years.
Maybe the iOS reference is for Kemper Amp modelling natively on the iPad (like Amplitube has done with its
iPad guitar amp suite), rather than the Virus? Would sound more plausible commercially, especially as there would be no hardware costs involved, unlike the Virus where iOS functionality would likely be an added-on freebie to the purchase of Virus hardware, rather than a commercially expandable tool (with further purchasable upgrades, etc.). In this sense, Kemper Amps potentially has fresh legs and a whole new market to tap into.
That said, they could do that with the Virus, turn it into a native iOS synth and charge for upgrades (unlike the free OS's we usually get) to monetize it. Actually I doubt this would ever happen, everyone with a hardware Virus would be pretty damn pissed off if it suddenly appeared on iOS for a fiver.