Last week saw the release of the iPad unto an expectant world. The media has seen gone full steam ahead dissecting every single aspect of this device and speculating on its impact and eventual success. It’s as would be expected from an Apple launch: the eagerness, the desire, the barely controlled hysteria. And yet, not everything was the same.
This is not the first time that Apple has launched a new category of device, we’ve seen it before with the iPod and iPhone. Product refreshes are easy, you already have an established base of loyal customers. But a new product category requires a bit more faith on our part. And this time, Apple has had a harder time than ever before in gaining it.
There are a lot of things not to like about the iPad, all of which have been covered extensively by the media. But there’s a lot to like too. I do not doubt that this device will be a success and a game changer on several levels. Amazon has been the first to feel the momentum growing. So why all the hesitation?
At its presentation Steve Jobs made an emphasis on the fact that this was a third device category to fit between the smartphone and the laptop. And while it’s more iPod than MacBook, and certainly does a lot of things better than the former, it fails to bring anything new to the table. There is nothing you can do with the iPad that you can’t do with the other devices.
This being Apple, it won’t stop the iPad from becoming a success. It will only make the iPad a slightly tougher sell to people who already own these other products, at least until other features or functions have developed enough to become powerful incentives on their own. However, lacking a unique functionality from the start seems like a huge missed opportunity to have had a truly groundbreaking product.
What could the iPad have included, that neither the iPhone nor the MacBook could replicate, that would have given it unique functionality and appeal? I believe that to be stylus input and handwriting recognition.
Apple has had a history with both that goes back a very long way, right back to the days of the Apple Newton. It is unlikely that at some point in this product’s development this function wasn’t considered for the device. It has even been rumored that a prototype of this functionality lies hidden behind the latest incarnation of the iPhone OS, 3.2. So why wouldn’t they have included it?
Successful handwriting recognition on a screen is a tricky implementation. And instead of risking less than perfect execution it wouldn’t be farfetched to think that Apple decided to head in another direction rather than risk it. I wish they had.
I have been able to experience only one kind of successful handwriting on a computer screen, and that is on the Tablet PC platform, and then only on computers equipped with Wacom’s Penabled technology. These are not the resistive or capacitive screens used on most touch-enabled devices these days. This technology works through electromagnetic resonance, meaning the stylus is actually powered by the tablet through electromagnetism, which allows the stylus to be thin, lightweight, and battery and cable free. It also allows the stylus to inform the tablet about the pressure being exerted on its tip, and the tablet to follow the stylus even when it isn’t actually touching the screen.
The way the tablet tracks the movement and varying pressures of these styluses allows for a very true to life and pleasant writing experience.
Both capacitive screens (as found on the iPhone) and resistive screens (as found on pretty much everything else) are unable to interpret more than on-off type inputs. You are either touching the screen or you are not. And that is simply not enough for an acceptable handwriting experience. Apple tried to accomplish this on the Newton, and then Palm tried it with its Graffiti handwriting on the Palm. Through different methods they both failed to deliver an acceptable experience.
Current touch enabled devices available today, such as the Archos 9 PC Tablet, do not promote on-screen handwriting at all for their products, even if the function seems obvious and the form-factor appropriate. This is because an enjoyable experience is not possible with the resistive and capacitive touchscreen technologies generally used today. Fujitsu attempted to go a step further. Their P1xxx line of Tablet PCs uses a resistive touchscreen. And they did promote handwriting on them. Yet another problem these screens face when handwriting is an issue that has come to be known as “vectoring”, which refers to any lines that may occur due to unintentional touching of the screen (such as with the palm of your hand). The P1xxx line of tablets is capable of disregarding these contacts so as not to allow them to interfere with the writing. But even with this assistance it was not enough.
Unfortunately, Wacom’s technology is proprietary, and unlikely to be licensed by Apple. Some alternatives exist, such as the N-Trig digitizer employed by Dell on its Latitude Tablet PCs. But the situation remains the same.
If Apple had, through any route, managed to include handwriting on the iPad we would have had such a different reception to the product. When Gizmodo asked its readers how Apple should fix the iPad the most recurrent suggestion was that of stylus input, as can be seen here, here, here, here and on my own submission. Sure, most of them wanted it to be on the level of a portable Cintiq tablet (to them I say: Look at the latest Fujitsu Stylistic slate) which wouldn’t have been realistic for a whole other number of reasons. But the fact remains that the consumer interest would have been there and that a device that brings a function fundamentally different than that of its peers would have elicited a much warmer reception.
With successful handwriting recognition, how long would it have taken the iPad to take classrooms by storm everywhere? I believe Apple has left the door open for someone else to grab the gold on this one. And I hope someone does.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
