The device on the photo is not a good example, though. This interface is nearly impossible to be used with fingers even if it is equipped with a touch screen. Steve was so clear with this during original iphone keynote, that he left no space for misinterpretations; it's not the touch screen alone, it's the UI that allows it to be worked with fingers.
Mobile UIs came a long way since then, so they are as usable as possible using fingers. Making a stylus for a phone is a stepback and definitely not so compatible to "apple's DNA" as Tim wants to repeat over and over and over.
Yeah, Steve is gone alright.
(regardless, that device was from an era where Steve was not in apple; just a hint)
You are commenting out of context.
The discussion was that Apple introducing a pen, stylus, or more accurately an active pen, would be copying Samsung. When in fact they had one prior to the Note series, back when they produced the Newton.
I am well aware of Jobs not being part of Apple at the time, though I disagree with your assessment of why he brought up the Stylus during the iPhone introduction. A lot of what he said and did on stage was for effect and highlight a solution they had come up with for a past problem. As you touched on, the subject of Multitouch was new to most of the population, and a big concern was accuracy of a small touchscreen when compared to big fingers. And with that he (and Apple) had to discredit the idea that in order for people to accurately interact with such a device, that you would
need a stylus.
I feel that you took his quote out of context, and I disagree that it closed the door for apple ever introducing a Pen device for iOS. Especially when Apple has tended to market their devices to schools, creatives, as well as people with disabilities. I doubt it would have been Jobs intention to deny others (artists, people who enjoy hand writing, people with disabilities, etc) from having a precise input device on their pocket computer. As with Cut-copy-paste, fast user switching (Mac), and other features later brought to Mac and iOS, they wait until the timing is right, or, when they feel they did the best job possible with bringing in the new feature.
Lastly, since you brought up Steve Jobs, It is not like he has ever said something was silly, stupid, or unnecessary, then later introduced it as a feature. Right?
