Just A Thought...An Apple Multi-Touch Pad?

[efengle]

As I sit here waiting for my Mac to startup, I started staring at the mouse. I remember back to when Steve Jobs intro'd the iPhone. He talked about the multi-touch as being the third great technology invention by Apple in terms of communicating with a computer. He said the Mac was the first (bringing a computer to the general public), then the mouse...

...could part of Apple's new product transition is to almost exclusively use a (multi-)touch sensitive pad or device as the main communication device between a person and their computer.

I sit here looking at my mouse on the mousepad and wonder...why not a multi-touch pad (same size as the mouse pad) and just use your finger instead of a mouse?

...it seems like this "product transition" may be more than just newer, faster CPUs, GPUs.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tallest Skil]

I fully expect OS XI to be entirely multi-touch based, with little to no support for a mouse.

That's a decade or so off, though.

 

[ihabime]

Fingerworks, the company Apple bought to get to its multi-touch patents, sold products exactly like that. Check out the iGesture, it had dozens of gestures and recognized up to 5 fingers at a time. They were pretty expensive though, a few hundred for the basic one as I recall. Apple owns the rights to all their products now, so I wouldn't be surprised if they reintroduced something similar in the future.

 

[514Mac]

I sit here looking at my mouse on the mousepad and wonder...why not a multi-touch pad (same size as the mouse pad) and just use your finger instead of a mouse?

Ever since I bought my MBP, I've been thinking the exact same thing. I usually use my MBP with an external monitor, wired Apple keyboard and wireless Mighty Mouse, but I always forget about the mouse and often end up using multi-touch gestures on my desk in front of the keyboard lol.

It would be a great product if they introduced it.

 

[jeremy.king]

An idea I've had for while was a multi-touch mouse. A regular mouse where gestures can be made on the surface of the mouse. Sort of like a cross between a trackpad and a mouse.

If you wanted to make it really crazy, put a flexible display on the surface of the mouse that can change images with different applications. Sort of how that Optimus keyboard works.

I should patent the idea

 

[TheCookie]

I had a touchpad mouse that supported multi-touch gestures in the mid-90s on a 486 PC.

The multi-touch technology is not new, nor inherently useful--the application of it is where you find Apple's genius.