Apple Looking to License Haptic Technology?

[MacRumors]

One report claims that Apple is looking to license haptic technology from Immersion Corporation for future iPhones.

A source (Apple Inc employee), who chose to remain anonymous, told us that senior executives of the two companies have already met once on Tuesday and the next meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning. The source confirmed that the executives will continue discussions over licencing and implementation issues of iPhone haptics.

It's difficult to place much credibility into this rumor which was posted on a on a blog that has been in existence for less than two months.

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[QuarterSwede]

I hope they do so that it would be easier to type and use. Just gives it a more realistic feel.

[KingYaba]

How long until we are hooking these units up to our brains? Having to finger things is slow compared to sending brain signals.

[cloudnine]

I hope this happens... I can't really explain it, but when I played around with one of the new Giorgio Armani phones, (the only phone that could maybe, possibly make me think of ditching the iPhone for a second), it had haptic feedback and it was pretty neat. Just something about that slight feedback when pushing a "button" was useful in a way.

I wonder how it effects battery life, though :/ blah.

[localoid]

Sounds erotic, but then it could be the first step in a sinister Pavlovian plot.

[retroneo]

My old motorola a1000 from 2004 had haptic feedback for its all touchscreen front. Had 3g and two cameras and stereo speakers too.

[!¡ V ¡!]

So it takes how much work to apply code to let the vibrate feature in the phone to activate to various degrees when a button or icon is press on a touch screen.

[vabigpoppa]

Originally Posted by !¡ V ¡!

So it takes how much work to apply code to let the vibrate feature in the phone to activate to various degrees when a button or icon is press on a touch screen.

w/ haptic feedback, the whole phone doesnt vibrate, so that wouldnt work

[Jayrod]

Personally, I think haptic feedback is pointless. The idea is to get feedback so you know that you are pressing the right button? That's what my EYES are for. I can see when I make mistakes. I don't need feedback for that.

[twoodcc]

well i guess this rumor can't hold much water, considering where it came from. but i don't think i understand what this could mean

[vabigpoppa]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

well i guess this rumor can't hold much water, considering where it came from. but i don't think i understand what this could mean

pretty much when you press something on the touch screen, it will give you tactile feedback to make it feel like a button when you press it.

one quick example....i know when im listening to my ipod, i like to change songs and volume without taking it out of my pocket. thats hard to do w/o some kind of tactile feedback. the addition of haptics will make that possible now.

[MacFly123]

I think this could be a nice addition only as long as it was VERY VERY QUICK, PRECISE, GENTLE, and SUBTLE!

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

This is an interesting venture. I'm interested but don't think it will be incredibly useful for what I do.

[carlgo]

This seems like something that adds a richness of experience. So, add it to my list of wanted features. Right after reception.

[wolfie37]

If they do introduce Haptic into the iPhone I hope they also include an option to switch it off. I have no idea how anyone finds it an advantage, Anything I have tried it on it just feels annoying, but then I don't even like the clicky key noises, I switch them off too!!

[maokh]

I hope apple is careful with this one. Every handset haptic feedback implementation i have seen so far is absolute junk. Vibrations, no matter how slight and careful, do not translate into the tactile response produced by the physical push button.

When you hold one of these devices in your hand, the entire unit vibrates. One hand is vibrated completely, one finger on the other hand is vibrated as well. The brain gets a little confused and does not know how to interpret this without concentration.

The only non-junk somewhat usable implementation i have seen is pioneer's nav/dvd system. This is likely because the unit is secured to the dash and makes use of a slightly different technique.

Until we start seeing nanotechnology touchscreens, small electrical current stimulation (trials have been mixed), transparent membrane matrix which can change consistency, or some new technology, the implementations will continue to be garbage.