The Changing Face of the Interface
Image by Todd Coats
Trend Predictions
03.05.2009
At the end of 2008, BlackBerry finally unleashed its latest mobile device to the market - raising the number to three viable multi-touch handhelds available to consumers. A few months ago, HP took a calculated half-step in releasing their initial foray into the world of multi-touch - a single-point touch-screen laptop. For more than a year now, Apple has been squeezing the spots off a patent for a true multi-touch laptop. The drumbeat of multi-touch is growing ever louder. The market is ripe and ready...but is the consumer?
My fellow developers and I have been following the progression of the multi-touch wave for several years now. The R&D multi-touch community is, as is typically the case, far ahead of the marketplace. Countless YouTube and Google videos showcasing the multi-touch creations of geeky weekend tinkerers are just a few clicks away. Until Apple's iPhone finally hit the streets in early 2007, the world of multi-touch existed pretty much as a collection of Spielberg effects and gimmicky tradeshow teasers. There was plenty of interest, but the real excitement was remanded to small, chirpy clusters of technophiles. The acceptance of the iPhone by - if not the masses, certainly the disposable income-laden trendies - has changed the game completely. What we are, in fact, witnessing is the slow and inevitable death of the mouse.
2009 will almost certainly usher in a new wave of multi-touch devices available for mass consumption. The consumer has bitten and bitten hard. Continued reprogramming will be necessary - we have relied on the mouse and stylus for more than a quarter-century. As personal computing goes, it is pretty much all we know. Thankfully, we have the Gen-Y's, the Millennials and an army of forward-thinking marketers and CTO's to steady our hands as we venture into the bold new world of multi-touch.
