Has Apple found the magic Touch?
Apple is betting that the iPhone's breakthrough in the way we interact with mobile phones will transfer over to notebooks.
The new MacBook Pros and MacBooks introduced Tuesday aren't all that much different from the ones that were on sale yesterday. Sure, they've got Intel's new Penryn chips, and more potent configurations, but for the most part, it's the same laptop. That is, with one notable exception.
Apple brought the gesture-recognition technology first introduced on the MacBook Air over to the new MacBook Pro systems, which will likely ship in much larger volumes than the MacBook Air and introduce many more of Apple's customers to the idea of trackpad gesture recognition. The technology allows you to zoom in and out of pictures, for example, by using the same pinch-and-expand gesture used on the iPhone.
Apple's new MacBook Pro notebooks will bring the multitouch technology from the MacBook Air to a wider variety of people.
(Credit: Apple)The question now is whether this is something that will boost Mac sales, which have been doing pretty well on their own up to this point. It's hard to assess the impact of the multitouch technology in the early days of the MacBook Air, which has only been out a little over a month and appeals to only a subset of the notebook-buying population.
It's clear, however, that the iPhone's multitouch user interface is perhaps its greatest asset. And Synaptics, which makes TouchPads used in a wide variety of notebooks PCs, expects several PC vendors to introduce similar technology later this year on their own notebooks.
At CES, Synaptics introduced a new TouchPad that incorporates the same style of pinching and zooming as well as a technology it calls "Momentum," which allows you to flick your finger toward the edge of the trackpad and watch the cursor continue to scroll in that direction, even after you lift your finger from the pad.
Microsoft is likewise hard at work investigating the potential for multitouch interfaces in computers. Its Surface project isn't exactly a mainstream idea yet, but it's a step toward a future where computers are designed around how people like to work with technology, rather than forcing us to adapt to the computer.
Wired brought up an interesting point last week, however, as it looked into Apple's chances of patenting this technology. Apple secretly acquired Fingerworks, a company started by two professors at the University of Delaware, in 2005 in order to get its hands on the MultiTouch fingertip recognition technology.
If Apple is successful with its patent efforts, and other PC and smartphone companies develop their own gesture-recognition technology in response, we could see a world where pinching on a MacBook might zoom, but the same gesture might close a window on a ThinkPad, or open a file on a mobile phone.
Would that be a step backward for the industry? Maybe, although people are able to deal with the fact that Macs use different keystrokes than PCs for certain tasks, or that some cars use a console gearshift while others have a floor-mounted shifter.
I'm curious to see how this technology drives PC sales over the coming year. Is advanced gesture-recognition something that would cause you to upgrade to a new system?
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Just as we have standards for character sets, there should be IP-free standards developed in this area as well.
And when you say for years, do you mean...like 1 year?
a company that focuses on media, they sure need a Blu-Ray drive
and 3/4G Cellular Modem integral!
Also, why didn't they add-in the S3200 FireWire?! See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire#FireWire_S3200
It's hardly the game-changing technology that is all the sudden going to boost sales. The iPhone would still be a great product if it only had single-touch abilities. Besides, half the world doesn't like the trackpad and would prefer the little red mini-joystick found on Thinkpads.
Also, comparing the iPhone multi-touch to a trackpad is not a real apples-apples comparison. Apply the multi-touch technology to the MacBook screen and NOW you have game-changing technology.
Just my 2c
"Besides, half the world doesn't like the trackpad and would prefer the little red mini-joystick found on Thinkpads."
Where are earth did you get THAT data ? Do they even make that horrible thing anymore ?
also you would either compromise your comfort having to hold your hands up all the time or if you put it on a table top you would break your neck looking down at it all the time.
i guess a good compromise would be as was mentioned, that is a tablet-esk computer with an iphone-ish touchscreen and a wireless keyboard. Ofcourse the tablet should be able to stand upright. In this configuration you could take just the tablet along when you are on the go and dont need the comfort keyboard and trackpad, and bring it with you when you have alot of work to do.
potential for Apple to strike licensing deals that would provide
other firms with access to this technology directly from Apple.
There are a number of reasons why this makes sense for all.
Licensees gain access to an outstanding technology without their
own R&D costs and without risk of development failure (only
integration risk). There is an existing user base trained in the
technology so devices sold by the licensee become "intuitive"
from the users' point of view. Further, licensing terms could
provide upgrades to licensees as Apple enhances the touch
platform over time.
Users would benefit from a common paradigm for controlling
devices.
Apple could benefit in several important ways. They can
generate a high margin revenue stream from licensing. Further,
by providing their technology to the market on favorable terms
and at favorable rates, they can remove incentives for
development of competing innovation. Finally, they could tier
their licensing and platform so that certain features or
techniques remain with Apple, or become released to licensees
only after some exclusivity period (e.g. six months) for Apple.
These are all hallmarks of a well thought out technology
licensing strategy. This approach would be a win all around.
Apple is *extremely* accomplished in the area of technology
strategy. Let's not forget that Apple was responsible for making
Cut, Copy, Paste and Print universal user interface elements (way
back) by burning these and other commands into ROM, freeing
scarce memory for application use by any developers who used
the Apple ROM based functions.
be like a big itouch.
A screen as the main input interface, with optional, wireless
keyboard and a mouse for certain application.
With that and a sensible pricing, I surely would move.
been wondering that despite the fantastic innovations that Apple is
putting into their laptops, when will they release a docking station?
Why can't Apple take a cue from Sony and make a truly business
friendly laptop?
proprietary connector was always a source of problems, and it
added an unnecessary extra $200+ to my workstation cost.
Now I just use Wifi and Bluetooth to sync up with my office net
and use the mouse and keyboard that stays at the office. I admit
that I also just plug in a monitor for my primary display, but this
is a minor inconvenience compared to the "is my laptop fully
seated in the docking station?" problems I had before.
it didn't fly.
you have yet to use the multitouch feature on iPhone. Try it. You'll
like it,
- Apple is waaaay ahead of you guys
- by theoxygenthief February 28, 2008 11:29 AM PST
- Apple filed patents in June 2007 already for an all-in-one surface: a surface that determines based on your hand positioning and "pose" whether to act as a keyboard, trackpad or stylus. now is THAT a cool idea or WHAT?!
- Like this Reply to this comment
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