Possible Apple tablet multi-touch tactile keyboard detailed
Apple's forthcoming tablet could employ a dynamic surface that gives users tactile feedback when typing in order to identify individual keys, according to a new patent application revealed this week.
Context & Ripple Effects
The tactile-keyboard filing extends an input-surface thread Apple has been building for over two years: its pressure-sensitive touchscreen and touchpad exploration from October 2007, followed by a large 'multi-touch input surface' patent application in February 2008. The new application applies that same idea to typing — a flat surface that dynamically raises feedback so users can identify individual keys without mechanical switches.
First-order effects
- The timing matters more than the patent itself: Apple has reportedly told developers to ready apps ahead of a confirmed January tablet demonstration, so a dynamic tactile surface would be the feature distinguishing the device from a scaled-up iPod touch — and letting it compete with netbooks' physical keyboards.
Second-order effects
- Netbook vendors selling on keyboards and price would face a device claiming to make the physical keyboard unnecessary, pressuring them toward their own touch or haptics responses; component suppliers able to deliver dynamic surfaces gain a new premium category to sell into.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — pressure sensing in 2007, input-surface surfaces in 2008, tactile typing now — Apple is systematically patenting the replacement of mechanical input hardware with adaptive glass, which could reshape how laptops and tablets are built and trigger a broader haptics patent race among device makers.
The trend: Apple's successive input-surface filings point toward glass-only devices where dynamic tactile feedback substitutes for physical keyboards.