Why The World Needs Super-Large Multi-Touch Screens
It was a few weeks ago that it hit me: we really need much bigger monitors for our computers. How much bigger? Well, I’m talking LCD displays that are, say, 70 inches in size. The problem is - current displays don’t give us enough screen real estate to do perform tasks truly productively.
I was doing several things at the same time: using Visual Studio for some C# coding; Netbeans for some Java coding; running the video playing applications we are are developing, showing videos filmed at 1000×1000 pixel resolution; and keeping track of multiple browser windows, file system views, and views of still images. And, I was short of screen real-estate for seeing everything that I wanted to see at the same time.
“I’m not looking at that much information,” I thought to myself. “Really, I should easily be able to look at all this stuff at once. If these documents were papers on my real-world desk, I’d be able to see it all easily.”
The point is - we’ve been used to the desktop metaphor for user interfaces for a long time now, but still the “desktops” on our computers are incredibly small compared to our real, physical desktops. If someone gave you a desk in your work place that was 24 inches across, you wouldn’t be able to get much work done on it. And yet, a 24 inch LCD screen is seen as an extravagant luxury by many. Lots of companies give their employees 15 inch “computer desktops” to work on.
So, that’s what I think the future looks like… in words. If you want to see it in a more tangible way, check out this video of a super-large screen with a multi-touch gesture-based interface.
It was created by Jeff Han who has a new company called Perceptive Pixel with a mission to “develop and market the most advanted multi-touch system in the world.” I hope they succeed…
Asam Bashir wrote:
We’ve been seeing example of that type of multi-touch screen interface for years, I’m just wondering how Apple’s patent stacks up with regard to these types of technologies…
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 8:30 pm ¶
simon wrote:
Well, Apple’s patent is for multitouch on handheld devices only, I think.
I don’t think their broad claims to multitouch could possibly stand up to much examination either. There’s just going to be much prior art; and obviousness.
The threat of a lawsuit from Apple will scare off small companies, so from that point of view it will work. However, I just can’t see the likes of Nokia, Samsung, or Microsoft taking much notice legal threats from Apple; especially if they think that Apple’s intellectual property is weak. And in any case, large companies will simply cross-license their IP, because 1) they all infringe each others patents (cos there are so many dumb patents granted); and 2) they all know they all have deep pockets, so any lawsuit would drag on for many years, which would be pointless.
So, I expect that we’ll be seeing multitouch interfaces in lots of devices, in one form or another…
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 10:34 pm ¶
Asam Bashir wrote:
Not so sure, from actual patents its more of an eco-system of mutli-touch devices, and Jobs did make a huge deal about pointing out 200 patents protecting the iPhone.
http://www.unwiredview.com/2007/01/16/apples-iphone-is-it-really-well-protected-by-patents/
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 12:51 am ¶
simon wrote:
You’re right - their patents do cover all types of multi-touch screens. And you’re right too that there are a bunch of related patents e.g. covering things like multi-touch gestures.
However, there’s still the issue of whether the broad claims of these patents would hold up if/when tested in court. And the issue of whether Apple will end up having to cross-license its phone-related IP with big players like Microsoft and Nokia.
For me, some of the biggest problems for Apple, with some of the key claims in these patents, are those of prior art. For example, the following seems a good overview:
http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
I’m sure Microsoft’s, Nokia’s and other’s IP lawyers have been looking closely at Apple’s patents in this area, and are already working out how they want to proceed.
I find it pretty hard to believe that Apple would think that the smart thing to do would be to here would be to enter into litigation with these companies. It’s one thing for Apple to protect its IP by writing theatening letters to small companies and individuals. It’s quite another to start long legal battles with deep-pocketed opponents.
Of course, the above pre-supposes that companies like Microsoft and Nokia are smart enough to realise that multitouch, gesture-based UIs are important. There’s always the possibility that they don’t get this stuff - and will just let Apple get on with it. That wouldn’t be a surprise. For some reason, cluelessness abounds in most companies when it comes to design of interfaces for interacting with devices. No idea why people find this subject to difficult, but they clearly do.
And actually, I think this is where Apple’s real competitive advantage comes from. Even if there weren’t any patents protecting iPhone, you have to question whether the likes of Microsoft/HTC and Nokia have the capability to design devices that work as well as Apple devices do. Every single piece of evidence - i.e. looking at phones on the market - suggests that no-one is even close to where Apple is on the “interaction” front. For example, I’ve seen the LG Prada phone in action, which many have compared to iPhone, and the way the user interface appeared to work was just embarrassingly awful.
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 6:38 am ¶