Multitouch the next buzzword?
The cultural element
But there are also drawbacks, Choong added.
"Capacitive displays are currently more costly than resistive displays to produce, although this difference will go down as more devices are manufactured.
"More critically for Asian consumers, capacitive displays can register finger strokes but not stylus input. This makes it especially challenging for precision control. Users of the LG Prada Phone, for instance, have talked about the difficulties in manipulating the scroll bars."
At HTC's MAGIC (Mobility Advancement Group and Innovation Center) Labs, John Wang, chief innovation wizard, told us at a recent launch for the Touch that text is one of the most culturally sensitive elements in a mobile phone.
"I'm not sure how writing a 15-stroke Chinese character with your index finger will work out on a mobile device."
-- Aloysius Choong, senior market analyst at IDC Asia Pacific
The same thought was echoed by Choong. "I'm not sure how writing a 15-stroke Chinese character with your index finger will work out on a mobile device. I do, however, expect to see a mix of interfaces and form factor combinations. For instance, a device with both a multitouch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard can overcome some of these limitations."
In the same space is Microsoft's Surface which could propel us into the future of multitouch applications. But would it be possible to shrink the capabilities of Surface to fit into a mobile device? Apparently not, due to a different kind of technology used, a Microsoft spokesperson said.
"Using current technology, this would not be feasible as the Surface uses a projection and camera system to sense activity. Our form factor allows for multitouch, multiuser and object recognition. A mobile solution, while gaining mobility, would be limited in delivering those other capabilities."
It's not difficult to take the Surface idea and put it into Zunes or other Windows Mobile devices and perhaps even UMPCs. However, Microsoft is currently focused only on bringing the Surface into public spaces and it has no future plans to speak of now.
What happened to Palm?
While the whole world is buzzing about multitouch devices, the rumor mill has been churning out information that Palm may be releasing a non-touchscreen version of the Treo (codenamed Gandolf) running on Windows Mobile 6 Standard.
While Cripps admits he hasn't heard about the Palm Gandolf, "I suspect a non-touchscreen Palm, if it has a QWERTY, could be a reaction to devices such as BlackBerry and the Motorola Q which feature a QWERTY but no touchscreen. If so, then it must be that Palm perceives a demand for such devices that it would like to take advantage of".
Palm was successful back in the days when the Palm Pilot allowed users to enter text with a stylus with its Graffiti system. Even when the company released its Treo smart phones with a QWERTY keyboard, the touchscreen remained.
If the rumor mill is true, what would this mean for Palm?
Palm, as usual, has declined to comment about its future product lineup.
So who is right?
"I would expect them [phones with keypads and touchscreen handsets] to co-exist, yes" Cripps noted.
"Apart from anything else, different people have different preferences when it comes to device form factor and functionality. Multitouch devices will also tend toward the more expensive end of the market. As far as different cultures are concerned, we have already seen high interest in touchscreens from Chinese-speaking markets where they see better use of Chinese characters.
"There could well prove to be demographics that prefer the multitouch approach but to be honest I think we'll have to wait and see."
And that is what Asia will be doing as the earliest multitouch mobile device, the iPhone, is expected to arrive here only in 2008. The Apple phone hits the US market on June 29, exclusive to AT&T.
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