I have a program that essentially wants to be able to have the user plug in their iPhone or iPod Touch, then receive some info based on what device they are using and what firmware version they have. I have read into libusb a little, but I'm unsure on how to communicate and what info I would actually need from the device. Any help?
Take a look at iRecovery. It's an open source tool used to assist in jailbreaking iPods and iPhones. It uses libusb and should help get you started.