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Apple Working on Advanced Gesturing and Multi-Touch Version of iWork

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Apr 12, 2001
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The New York Times offers some additional tidbits that might come in the rumored Apple Tablet.

According to former Apple employees, Apple has been working on advanced multi-touch gesturing that was originally pioneered by Fingerworks. Apple acquired Fingerworks a number of years ago and has been leveraging their multi-touch technology in their latest products. This news shouldn't be particularly surprising for anyone who has been following Apple for the past few years.

The most interesting report from the article is that Apple is said to have "spent the past couple of years working on a multitouch version of iWork". Such a version of iWork would presumably allow the upcoming Apple tablet to be used for document creation rather than solely content consumption. It would also blur the lines between the functions of tablet and that of a more traditional laptop computer.

Apple is rumored to be introducing their tablet computer later this month.

Article Link: Apple Working on Advanced Gesturing and Multi-Touch Version of iWork
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/09/apple-working-on-advanced-gesturing-and-multi-touch-version-of-iwork/
i so hope that is true. it would make the tablet work for me. also i then expect pixelmator/photoshop et al. to follow.
 
Just another way that the tablet will basically make every other device at CES seem obsolete. Apple remains just a bit ahead of the competition - I don't see any signs that Android is ready for Google Docs content creation.
 
i can see how its great for documents with text and such like but i still do like a physical keyboard. Would be interesting to see how you would work photoshop. But my main area is music and i cant see many audio apps such as logic working that well with all this gesture stuff
 
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Sabenth said:
i can see how its great for documents with text and such like but i still do like a physical keyboard. Would be interesting to see how you would work photoshop. But my main area is music and i cant see many audio apps such as logic working that well with all this gesture stuff
Click to expand...

This could be cool. Touch for when your out and about and pair up with Bluetooth keyboard when at a desk.
 
I begin to see....

There are some interesting possibilities. No need to make guesses about things I don't know. Apple may just take this to the next level.
 
andiwm2003 said:
i so hope that is true. it would make the tablet work for me. also i then expect pixelmator/photoshop et al. to follow.
Click to expand...

This is somewhat good news and I hope Apple does the same for the iPhone. It would seem that Apple is pushing it to eventually become a computer. I hope they would do the same for iLife.

The limiting factors of this becoming one's sole computer still remain. Storage will become an issue unless iTunes offers a subscription based service for music, TV and movies.

I see the tablet eventually becoming a full-blown computer but it may be 5 years away. The question of openness also remains an issue.
 
Sabenth said:
i can see how its great for documents with text and such like but i still do like a physical keyboard. Would be interesting to see how you would work photoshop. But my main area is music and i cant see many audio apps such as logic working that well with all this gesture stuff
Click to expand...

I think that iWork apps and some of the iLife apps could be reasonably expected to see their way the tablet OS. The current iPhone 3GS can do basic video editing, so with a more powerful processor/hardware the tablet will certainly at least be able to do the same and probably a little bit more (in terms of effects, transitions, etc). There are also some interesting audio manipulation applications that can run on the 3GS, same idea applied we might be able to see a Garageband tablet app.. not expecting multi-track recording or something fancy, but I wonder if the tablet would let you use some of the software music and record yourself playing piano?

I think we run into trouble when we start thinking we're going to see photoshop and other devices like that on the device. I'm not expecting that (though would be ok with it) but iWork/iLife Mobile would be great.
 
But will customers find the software usable.

I just can't imagine a set of gestures and a touch system that would allow for anything other than extremely casual usage. What I can imagine is a suite of apps that don't look anything like the iWork suite we use today.


Dave
 
Advanced gesturing and multitouch in iWork??

4 finger swipe left: Bold
3 fingers up and thumb right: Underline
Double 2-thumb tap: Copy
Triple 2-thumb tap & pinky swipe diagonal down: Paste
Drag middle finger and thumb and tap index: Caps Lock
...

This must be that steep learning curve they we're talking about...
 
iDisk said:
If Steve Allows iWork and XCode in the Tablet I'm buying it no matter what the price is.

iDisk

:apple:
Click to expand...

If XCode is on the Tablet, I'm not getting a laptop. I plan on getting a 13" MacBook Pro for XCode and portability, but I'm going to get a Tablet as well. I highly doubt XCode would be on the Tablet, though.

:apple:
 
Tablet is such an illused word. The word has an existing meaning with existing products yet it is getting applied to a host of new products that don't fit the catagory. Perhaps the thing I like best about the term slate it that it suggests a new product catagory and we don't have to listen to the pundits waste air talking about whether it is or isn't a tablet or tablet computer or media device or whatever....

I for one don't really expect or need my iSlate to be a great content creation device, yes I'd like to be able to type on it to keep a journal/diary on it, butnultimately I need 10% of the functions of a full fleged computer.

I could easily see a multi-touch version of Photoshop, it'd just be an extension of what you do with all the exisiting tablets... Oh there's that word again, you know I mean like wacom tablets, right?

I could also see a multitouch version of logic that actually would perform like all that. Bogus software you see on TV shows (csi miami) grab chunks of audio sliding them around control levels with touch activated sliders. Imagine a pressure sensitive slider.
 
MORE than MERELY Consumption....

QUOTE: "The most interesting report from the article is that Apple is said to have 'spent the past couple of years working on a multitouch version of iWork'. Such a version of iWork would presumably allow the upcoming Apple tablet to be used for document creation rather than solely content consumption".

:D AMEN! This is EXACTLY what I have been hoping for with the "iSlate". Let's all hope and pray that it's TRUE! It really NEEDS to be more than JUST a big iPod touch! Go :apple:!!! Separate yourself from the Windoze pack once again!!!
 
iWork on the Apple Tablet will be nice, but the real killer is Microsoft Office on the Apple Tablet.
 
Wow, that's unexpected actually, that the Tablet would be used for real work. Sure, companies might write a company-specific app for one, but my assumption (at least) has been that consumers would always use it for (basically) entertainment purposes. Good on Apple if this is true.
 
I liked that Apple patent where gesturing with your middle finger put the text into all caps. Pretty slick.
 
Sabenth said:
i can see how its great for documents with text and such like but i still do like a physical keyboard. Would be interesting to see how you would work photoshop. But my main area is music and i cant see many audio apps such as logic working that well with all this gesture stuff
Click to expand...

I'm with you concerning the keyboard but my 13 year old daughter shocked my wife yesterday when she was texting with her Blackberry and turned to her to say "it's just so hard to text with this, it's so much easier with the iPhone".

I think the more you are used to typing on a screen the more natural it seems. But Zed2 is right, a Bluetooth keyboard solves the whole issue by offering you a choice between a physical keyboard and a virtual one (after all, the computer keyboard is actually a virtual keyboard compared to a typewriter, right?)
 
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itsbarry said:
iDisk said:
If Steve Allows iWork and XCode in the Tablet I'm buying it no matter what the price is.

iDisk

:apple:
Click to expand...

If XCode is on the Tablet, I'm not getting a laptop. I plan on getting a 13" MacBook Pro for XCode and portability, but I'm going to get a Tablet as well. I highly doubt XCode would be on the Tablet, though.

:apple:
Click to expand...

I too would love to see Xcode on a tablet but a seriously doubt that will happen.

When I'm coding in Xcode I have dozens of windows open and multiple screens. I jyluat now sure you can do that on a small screen. It also means that the AppStore might be less effective as people will be able to install and run any bits of code.
 
Well this is great!

This also gives me hope for iLife. Seeing how you really don't need a keyboard at all for those app's.

Now all I need is QB to either make a syncing app or the slate to be open!:D
 
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