iPhone Touches the Future of Interfaces
Today is a day that will go down in history — or is it infamy? At 6 p.m. you’ll be able to buy the Apple iPhone, the cellphone and computer and music player and more that will change the world! (At least that’s what Apple wants you to believe.)
The marketing engines have been working overtime at Apple. I first heard about the iPhone more than a year ago. Sure, it looks good; that’s a given. But what makes the darn thing so cool is the “look Ma, no buttons” factor. You do everything by touch.
My prediction is that we are about five to 10 years away from a time of no more
keyboards or mice. Everything will use touch screens or touch pads. We’ll be like people in the movie Minority Report; they wired up their fingers and moved through computerized interactive environments with fluidity and grace. Like them, we ‘ll put on some classical music and be conducting on our computers.
I’m looking forward to it. Think of all the people saved from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Between the iPhone and Microsoft Surface, the days of keystrokes and mouse clicks are fading fast. I only have two questions now: What will we call the new “syndrome” caused by touch screen usage? And will it be covered by workman’s comp?
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Adam said,
on June 29th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I will keep mine with my segway.
tobs said,
on June 29th, 2007 at 11:42 am
The revolution towards more interactive interfaces has already gained headway. The Wii phenomenon speaks for itself. Let’s just hope that the rest of the industry gets it and keeps innovation going.
I’d rather wear the “interactive gloves” than have a nunchuck on the left hand and a wiimote in the right hand.
Deborah Ackerman said,
on July 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am
This reminds me of a semi-serious media discussion I heard a few years back (can’t remember where) about evolutionary predictions for humans. One of the ideas was that our index fingers would grow much longer and be far more developed than our other fingers, due to exactly such technological changes.