The Multi-touch User Interface Thing
by
Randy Mears
Touch screens have been with us for a very long time. We see them everywhere from handheld computers to cash registers to navigation systems to ATMs. There is nothing really new about them, at least not the ones we currently encounter on a daily basis. That will soon change with the introduction of Apple’s iPhone as its multi-touch screen enters the marketplace on June 29th; just over a week from now. Later this year, using a different technology, Microsoft’s Surface will bring multi-touch to desktop computing as well.
So what’s the big deal about a touch screen interface that can handle more than one touch at a time? Is it really much different than a single touch version? This Time Magazine article does a good job answering that question . The important thing is that when you combine multi-touch with a suitable set of interface metaphors and lots of compute power you can end up with a more natural, very responsive and closer to seamless connection between the real and the virtual. That’s not a bad thing when you are trying to manipulate objects on your computer’s screen. Recognizing a device, like a camera, that is placed on the screen and dealing with it as such (by downloading its pictures and displaying them for fingertip manipulation) is just an added bonus.
If you've been following this blog you have probably noticed that one of the things that I've been waiting for is a clue to what the next big step in user interfaces might be. There have been a number of innovations, like the tablet PC and motion sensors, but none that struck me as a significant evolutionary step toward a successor to the GUI. I continue to sense that multi-touch is such a step.
So, I am left mostly with questions. As some solutions transition from the GUI to the TUI (Tactile User Interface), will multi-touch spur the beginning of the next UI wave? Based on the signals from both Apple and Microsoft, that could be a yes. What if you throw in a little motion detection and voice command? Do we have to wait for it all before we can embrace what's next? Only time and the end user will tell.
