Multi-Touch from Apple

When Money Attacks... Apple

Check out Steve Jobs' keynote speech from MacWorld this year:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/

He said:

9:47am - "The problem is really in the bottom 40% -- keyboards that are there whether you need them or not. They have control buttons that are fixed in plastic. Every app wants a different button. You can't add new buttons. How do you solve this problem? We solved this problem -- we solved it in computers 20 years ago. A bitmap screen that can display anything we want -- with a pointing device."

"So how are we going to take this to a mobile device? Get rid of all the buttons, and just make a giant screen. So how are we going to communicate? We're going to use a stylus -- no. Who wants a stylus?? Yuck!"

9:48am - "So let's not use a stylus, we're going to use the best pointing device in the world -- our fingers. We have invented a new technology called multi-tuch. It works like magic, you don't need a stylus, far more accurate than any interface ever shipped, it ignores touches, mutli-finger gestures, and BOY have we patented it!

9:49am - "We have been very lucky to have brought a few revolutionary user interfaces to the market -- the mouse, the click wheel, and now Multi-Touch. Each has made possible a revolutionary product, the Mac, the iPod, and now the iPhone. We're going to build on top of that with software. Software on mobile phones is like baby-software. Today we're going to show you a software breakthrough. Software that's 5-years ahead of what's on any other phone."

10:12am - "I can have multiple SMS conversations. Here's the conversation I've been carrying on [shows QWERTY keyboard on screen]. I've got this little keyboard that prevents error, it's really fast to type on, faster than the little plastic keyboards on all those smartphones. 'Sounds great, see you there." Some predictive text it seems, he'd probably rock this thing faster with thumbs.

10:14am - I can just take my fingers and I can move them together and further apart, and make the photo bigger or smaller." HUGE applause – touch gesturing apparently really hit a chord with these people.