Of all the surprises we expected to hear about in the
WWDC keynote, a multitouch trackpad peripheral didn't exactly pop into our brains. But -- whoomp -- here it is. What we appear to be looking at is a brand new input device that Apple has dreamed up which connects to desktops (and laptops, if you like) via Bluetooth, much like the Apple Keyboard. If you take what you see in the photos at face value, it would seem that the folks in Cupertino are making a play for finger-based input in a big way -- taking the work they've done on Mac laptops and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and translating it to the desktop realm. This weirdly lines up perfectly with rumors from earlier in the year, emanating from both John Gruber (of
Daring Fireball fame), and
MacRumors -- the former reporting that Apple was set to release a "Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs," and the latter taking notice of an Apple
trademark application for the "Magic Trackpad." It certainly all makes sense given that the company has made not-so-subtle moves away from standard input devices to finger-friendly options in many,
many of its recent products. Whatever the case may be, we're potentially just hours away from the truth, so feast your eyes on the photos, and get ready for the big reveal.
Update: New images received with a claim that the device supports
handwriting recognition in addition to "every feature you can find on a Magic Mouse (and possibly features of a MacBook Pro trackpad)." This, from a person who claims to be personally testing it. Something we hope to do for ourselves
before the day is through.
Update 2: Reader Dan Berte made a quick little
cardboard mockup using his Apple keyboard and Magic Mouse for relative sizing and he's estimating the tracking area to be around six inches diagonal. Makes sense -- check his handiwork after the break.
posted June 7th 2010 8:52AM
care? no
I wonder if it "clicks"...
that guy's QQ number will be flooded with requests
I def. want one :-)
isn't this kinda stupid? Why would you want that thing instead of a mouse?
@spatula
You have no idea.
Great something else he's going to try to convince me to purchase, that I don't need. I don't need this iPad either.
Sent from my iPad
There's been talk for a while about making iPhoneOS apps run on a new breed of AppleTV devices. I had been wondering about what the input device could be for such a thing, and my best guess was something along the lines of this trackpad. It's not _quite_ a match because you don't directly "touch" the image on the screen. But since the trackpad has a button, Apple could show touch points on screen in some way (e.g., like they do on the iPhone simulator for Xcode) and not actually send the event until the user clicks. That's not perfect, but probably good enough to enable many existing apps to transfer "as is" to such a hypothetical Apple TV device.
Hmm... if Apple is indeed trying to target graphics tablets, I wonder if this thing will have some sort of piezoelectric sensor built into it to add pressure sensitivity to it. No graphic designer I know would toss aside their Wacom tablets without some kind of pressure sensing. As for handwriting recognition, my guess is that this will simply be handled by Apple's long-dorment "ink" system that's built into Mac OS X. The idea of a stylus on this thing would be a huge upset to many, particularly members of the iPad crowd who feel the device is incomplete without one. (and no... those cheap ass "pogo" things do not count as a stylus, as they have almost no accuracy during use...)
So they basically took the Fingerworks iGesture (http://www.fingerworks.com/) which Apple bought a few years back, covered it in apple aluminum, and slapped a logo on it. The original was a fabulous device - let's see what this one does!
The mouse is beautiful, but I hear usability is a weak spot.
@Wesscoast
It's usability is awesome. Watch this video of how it will be implemented...
http://vimeo.com/6712657
After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
This could be an cool input device for a future Apple TV. How's the range of bluetooth these days?
@tthomashardie 30 feet=10 meters max
@tthomashardie http://vimeo.com/6712657
SOLD. After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
@wikoogle Interesting video. This guy's voice would probably convince me of anything.... and totally creep me out at the same time.
Snore!
So, Apple is "inventing" a small Wacom pad?
Big deal.
@MAS
Exactly
@MAS
It's NOT a Wacom pad. It's FAR better.
Watch this video showing how it works...
http://vimeo.com/6712657
After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
I dont see the point in this , but I guess we will see it explained later
Reminds me almost of the Cirque Cat trackpad I had a while back http://goo.gl/2IfJ. It was a nice departure from the mouse but I found the built-in left and right click buttons a bit hard to use. Let's see if Apple can do it right.
So this will be taking over the Wacom industry now? Im sure they could put out an update that makes it function like a Wacom tablet. If so they, wacom, should watch out because people will start to buy Apples version when the intuos 4 gets old and the Apple trackpad ends up being way cheaper. Just a thought, not sure if any of that will come to pass but its sorta what happens in the markets Apple gets into, they usually dominate in some way from a stand point of the majority or casual users.
When this "magic" becomes the back of the iPhone, then we'll have something.
magic mouse, we hardly knew ye.
which is ok, ye was an ergonomic disaster
As a designer, I would love to be able to use the track pad with my left hand (zooming rotating etc), and the mouse with my right. Also, with stylus support I could drop the mouse at any point and start free form drawing. And for basic browsing or reading, I could sit back with the track pad in hand and relax while I do. I don't think Apple is trying to replace the mouse in this case, but maybe they are augmenting, and finally throwing the artists a bone.
so it is a trackpad for your desktop? brilliant
/s
For all those comparing this tech to Wacom tech.
Yes they are similar, however:
1. Wacom currently only has one tablet that is bluetooth enabled (Intuos 4). The Intuos 4 does not have any touch capability.
2. Wacom currently has 2 touch tablets (Bamboo Touch and Bamboo), neither of which are bluetooth enabled.
3. Wacom multi-touch is limited to 9 gestures and not programmable AFAIK.
4. Wacom tablets are pressure sensitive, its speculative to say that this Apple product will be (the tech presented doesn't seem logical for pressure sensitivity).
Aside from those points I remember reading Apple patenting the aluminium micro dot punch with LED tech that is used in the current line of Macbook pro's in the sleep light. It would be amazing if this piece was both on-demand (via gesture of key seq) numeric keypad (backlit with the same tech as the sleep light) and gesture pad. Throw some on demand media player buttons in there as well. That would be an amazing piece of tech IMHO.
http://vimeo.com/6712657
SOLD. After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
http://vimeo.com/6712657
SOLD. After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
http://vimeo.com/6712657
SOLD. After watching that video, I want this thing even more than I want a new iPhone!!! It could simultanously obsolete both the Keyboard and the Mouse, and the iPad even.
God I hope that video comes true, and they implement it alongside Google TV/Apple TV so that I could use it in my living room, on my 1080p set.
Magic appears to be the new BOOM which is the same RDF output by Steve' ***.
The first two Chinese characters on the image says "Beijing."
What do the rest of them say?
yet again apple invent something that already existed a year ago and claim it for their own
http://en.akihabaranews.com/22647/pc/external-multi-gesture-trackpad-for-your-pc
when microsoft claim to have invented word and excel people point to the businesses they bought, and yet apple get away with it. just sayin.
I hope it will be better then wacom with a pen
Why is Engadget downplaying and not even mentioning the Wacom Bamboo Touch, which is the direct competitor to this "new" apple product? Do the Engadget editors want to make it seem like Apple is releasing an entirely new category of product?
I smell sketchy journalism in this article.
I could see this being useful...I would really like it if it was built in to the bluetooth keyboard, though. That would be an awesome on-lap solution.
So now apple is inventing the USB tablet input device.
Wacom will be thrilled to hear it.
Hand writing recognition is a software function. I doubt it is built into this tablet itself. I would guess it makes use of the recognition already baked into modern OS from both apple and MS.
The multi touch would be nice. Too bad apple will probably price it as though it is made of gold.
But then, to be fair, so does wacom.
Fukk size keyboard please. Come on apple wtf are you doing?
I could see using this with my HTPC.
A trackpad for fingers that doesn't have a screen on it seems pretty useless. Pen input devices are already hard enough to use.
Finally. I was betting that Logitech would introduce something like this. I am glad that I did not buy the $60 wired pad that I have been eyeballing.
So it looks like this won't be coming out?
I wonder if this means that you'll be able to use iPhone and iPad apps from within OS X. Probably not, but it's a possibility. Also, so far the only way to have multitouch on a desktop mac, (iMac, Mac Pro) is to use a Wacom Bamboo. So really it's just a bamboo touch. This is awesome, it means easy navigation of lots of apps. I personally use the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch and I use it all the time. It's REALLY good for scrolling, zooming, and using Google Earth is a DREAM with the bamboo touch. To bad they didn't introduce it in the WWDC Keynote.
will ship as option on new iMacs / Mac Pros
OMG APPLE I-CARDBOARED IT RUNS IOS4
Wacom have been making this for a long time, all though given its not wireless. But other then that it supports multitouch, handwriting recognition works great and best off all? I've had one for 6 months. Another quality apple inovation.
Oh, and some one said it would be great if it was a monocrome display as well? Why? if you have the cash Wacom mack a full culler touch display...
A touchpad never gonna change the way I use my computer, I'll prefer a concept like this one: http://www.hb-improving.com/us/apple/exemples_iboard.html
So basically taking technology demonstrated by people like Jeff Han from several years ago, putting it in their own package, slapping an Apple logo on, adding bluetooth and no doubt filing patents and then calling it "Their Invention". Have we got that right so far? Should we soon expect Apple to Sue Wacom who already has this technology on the market??? Search "Bamboo Touch" and you will see what I am talking about.
Sorry, but a Apple's magical trackpad can only be this one http://www.hb-improving.com/us/apple/exemples_iboard.html
They had me until it required OS X 10.6.4
Running 10.6 and don't intend to upgrade. Don't feel you can trust Apple's upgrades. Oh Well.