Ceci N'est Pas Un Ecran (This is not a display)

Arik,
Thank you for your thoughtful follow-up and a great Rene Magritte allusion!
Cheers,
Dave

In this follow-up article Arik Hesseldahl stubbornly insists that a touch screen is the best idea for multi-touch input on desktop & notebook computers, and that Apple should be following in HP's footsteps.

Too often there are ignoramuses who have no professional background in a particular area (in this case the ergonomic design of computers) but pretend to be experts, and are critical of others who are actually innovating and achieving success in their industry.

It's just pathetic.

Fatigue is a practical objection to vertical touchscreen products, and one that unavoidably will limit their practicality somewhat. Smudges aren't a good objection. But neither is the true barrier at the moment. That would be the interface itself.

The desktop-and-window metaphor, with all of its associated controls (like radio buttons, as pointed out by Brown) is designed to be operated with a keyboard and mouse. It is ill-suited for touch operation. Apple knows this; why do you think it came up with an entirely new metaphor and set of controls for the iPhone OS? You won't see a truly effective touchscreen laptop or desktop product until the operating system itself is redesigned at the interface level to accommodate touch with a priority equal to keyboard and mouse.

Apple could ship a touchscreen Mac tomorrow if they wanted to, but it would be a gimmick and they know that. THis is why they are staying on the periphery of touch for now, restricting it to trackpads on their laptops. You won't see a large-form touchscreen computer from Apple until they have the interface problem solved.

It's why I agree though, that if anyone will nail the category, it will be Apple. Nobody but Apple can bring all the pieces together -- hardware and software -- to make it all work, and nobody has put more work into the problem already.

Arik:

The problem with your original story is the inaccuracy created by how two sentences are parsed:

"...But as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has beaten Apple (AAPL) to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can't help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race..."

In essence, you criticize Apple for not releasing a "multitouch" Mac notebook and imply that H-P accomplished this first by doing what Apple could not do. The trouble is this: your sentence touting H-P's accomplishment doesn't use the word "touchscreen" but does use the phrase "multitouch -enabled notebook PC."

These are two very different things. Perhaps H-P did release the first "touchscreen-enabled notebook PC," although I would even disagree with this assertion. But clearly, when you instead used the overly-broad "multitouch-enabled notebook PC" term, you bestowed too much credit on H-P and completely ignored the fact that Apple has released two "multitouch-enabled" notebook computers (the new 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro), each of which incorporate this new technology into an arguably improved, glass trackpad (and not on the display). Surely you see the distinction -- and that you painted yourself into a corner with your own words. You molded your more all-encompassing description of the H-P "touchscreen" device to fit into the "multitouch-enabled" story line.

What's more, your claim about H-P completely ignores the iPhone, arguably the world's first commercially successful, multitouch-enabled PC. Many iPhone buyers recognize it for what it really is: a tiny, handheld PC that does Mail, Web Surfing, Music, TV, and yes, even computing. It's certainly not the first touchscreen, handheld PC, but it probably is the best released to the general public to date. To underscore this, in a recent interview, Steve Jobs referred to the iPhone this way:

"...You know, one of our entrants into that [netbook]category if you will is the iPhone, for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket.”

It's only natural that Apple customers who laid out $300-$600 for these first "multitouch-enabled" iPhone PCs and $1,400-$2,700 for the new 2008 Mac-based "multitouch-enabled notebook PC's" might feel incensed by your inaccurate language parsing.

Choose your words just a little more carefully and you'll have fewer problems with a public that admittedly is overprotective of all things Apple. Remember -- this is not about you or your writing only. It's really about years of inaccurate technology coverage of Apple by the mainstream press. People are tired of this. As a result, no sin goes unnoticed (or unpunished) these days.

Reporters often get into trouble when they attempt to oversimplify technology and distill it down to sentences that are too simplistic, and you really did fall into this trap. So, please just confess with a mea culpa on this one and move forward.

Yes, this is a much more balanced article than the original one. Starting with its headline, it was just attracting all of the attention that you received today. The fact remains -- HP has not beat Apple at anything -- yet. If their touch-screen laptop is a smashing success, then maybe you can give them the gold medal, but being first does not mean they've won. Apple has proven that dozens of times in the past 10 years.

"But doesn’t it make sense that if there’s any company out there that can do this right, its Apple?"

They have. You even say so, twit:

"You can certainly argue as many have, (some eloquently than others) that Apple’s implementation is superior."

Make up your mind.

Finally...

"But what’s stopping Apple from making both the trackpad and the screen multi-touch capable and allowing the user to figure out what works best for them?"

Price. Duh.

The problem is the Wintel industry as a whole is always about someone else's ideas...three to five years later. Then we have to listen to how interesting it is when it has already happened. The PC industry as a whole is a knock-off store. The HP "Multi-Touch" interface does not allow anyone to control Vista. It is a stop gap solution. Apple's venture allows the OS to be used with Multi-Touch & the screen does not get mucked up. Will Apple have touch screens in the future? Who knows more than likely. HP was still late to the game & MS is even further behind. They will take UI metaphors that Apple has already developed (like most of the touch phones). That alone should have saved them an enormous amount of time, not having to figure out how how something should work from a user standpoint. Apple, again shows the industry one way to the future. The rest of the PC industry just does knock offs.

By omitting the relevant information about the MacBook's multi-touch trackpad, your earlier article was written in a way that would mislead a typical reader into believing that Macs don't support multi-touch at all.

Since you claim to be "intimately aware of the multi-touch trackpad", we must assume that it was a willful omission not to mention it in the article.

Arik,

The HP Touch Screen will fail and will be canceld in a couple of months. Same as the tablet PC Billy came up with every year. It is a nice market only.

And you gives a fuck, what Microsoft does?

Who wants to touch their screen? Not me, not today, not tomorrow.

Arik,
Your follow-up does not address the fact that there are several places your original article was misleading or inaccurate:
1: "Apple watchers assumed Jobs & Co. would be the first to offer a multitouch laptop, but Hewlett-Packard has beaten them to the punch"

Wrong. Apple offered a multitouch laptop quite a while ago. Not screen, but multitouch.

2. "Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has beaten Apple (AAPL) to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2."

Wrong. Same reason. If you used the word "multitouch-screen" notebook you would have been right, but your actual sentence is wrong.

3. "Apple so far sells only two multitouch-enabled products, the iPhone and the iPod Touch."

Wrong. As mentioned above, and as you admit in this blog entry, you are aware that Apple sells multitouch-enabled laptops. Again, not multitouch _screen_ products, but they are multitouch.

You really should use terms that make it clear you know what you are talking about. Many people reading your article will believe what you actually say, not what you meant. As a journalist explaining things to people you theoretically don't know more than you, you should strive to actually say what you mean, and not be misleading.

I believe you when you say that you knew about Apple's other multitouch products, but you actually _said_ they only had two. That's just incorrect.

A separate point: you say "I can't help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race." Well, you're certainly entitled to wonder just about anything in the world, but I'm confused about this. You admit there are serious problems with HP's implementation. May I point out that people were making MP3 players and cell phones for years before Apple did? "Losing" those "races" hasn't hurt Apple much, has it? Being first is useless if your product is replaced by something better.

Finally, the fact that another website criticizes you in a sarcastic manner doesn't make them wrong. They pointed out misleading factual inaccuracies in your article, and you attacked their style. A more honest response may have been to admit that the original article used confusing (or inaccurate) terms, and just make the correction. That might not have fixed the problem that your article seems to set up a pointless horse-race scenario, but it would have corrected the misleading nature of it.

I believe the point of your first article was that HP was leapfrogging Apple in releasing a touch screen. In this article, you admit the severe shortcomings of the HP solution. So you are basically rejecting your original stand.

In any event, the problems with a touch screen are physical and ergonomic, not technical. And, for that, Apple has "solve[d] these problems" by keeping the touch pad where it is ergonomically sensible, and the screen in its ergonomically correct place.

I can imagine only one other solution to this: to project the fingers up onto a vertical screen even as they rested on a horizontal surface. I will be the first to call my suggestion idiotic.

Apple will NEVER produce a touchscreen Mac.

It. Is. Rubbish.

Leave that to Microsoft and cheap PC vendors to mess up.

You think Apple wouldn't have done this already if it was a good idea!???

*shakes head*

Arik,
So you do understand French ... ?! so you will understand this:
"Une faute avouée est à moitié pardonnée".
(in case you don't = " To recognize an error makes it already half forgiven")

It is OK to admit your original article is flawed and that you missed several important facts.
I'll forgive you entirely if you are ready to admit it !!!!

Allez ! Bon courage !

David (from Marseille, France)

Sorry Arik, I don't buy your sorry tail. You wrote this:

Apple watchers assumed Jobs & Co. would be the first to offer a multitouch laptop, but Hewlett-Packard has beaten them to the punch"

WRONG. The first multitouch laptop was the MacBook Air a year ago.

You now say you meant the first touch-screen laptop, and yes HP have produced this. But... 'beaten to the punch'?

Beaten to the punch conveys your perception that this was a race Apple was participating in and needed to win. I hope you don't expect anyone to believe that. Do you?!

MultiTouch is perfect for handheld devices, a la iPhone and somewhat larger. For a laptop? A five year old would in 10 minutes tell you all the reasons why this is a waste of HP's time. 2/10 for this and the previous article.

@Arik,
So the guy from Userlab sends you a detailed, fact-filled comment telling you he proved in testing that it was a poor decision to use fingers on a display, and yet you keep wondering how long it will take Apple to built a display with touch capabilities.

Am I missing something?

He just told told you it was a POOR DECISION to touch the screen, and yet you can't seem to understand why Apple agrees with him! HP doesn't have a clue, so they will aimlessly try to create a market with their TX2. Good luck, HP.

In the meantime Apple made a better decision, to use a larger trackpad that also acts like a physical button to click with. Brilliant! That is their solution.

You like to beat dead horses, don't you?

No company in their right mind would ever purchase a computer with a touch screen interface for day-to-day desk work. The simple reason is repetitive stress on hands, arms and joints.

The ergonomics involved in the keyboard and mouse are straight forward, attempting to prevent injuries due to use. This is one of the highest work related injuries of our time -- carpal tunnel syndrome. Using a touch screen won't mitigate this issue, only produce a new category of injuries.

Apple won't go this route as the engineers already know the outcome -- failure.

Arik,

You asked:

"But what’s stopping Apple from making both the trackpad and the screen multi-touch capable and allowing the user to figure out what works best for them?"

What is wrong with that, in my opinion, is that it runs completely against how Apple designs its products. Does iPhone have a physical keyboard as well as on-screen so the user can figure out which works best for them?

Does iPod have a clickwheel and scroll buttons for this purpose?

Does the MacBook come with two trackpad buttons so you can decide if you like the second button instead of cmd-click or dual finger click?

No on all of these. One of the hallmarks of Apple designs is that they have determined an interface paradigm that is best (in their estimation) and they stick with it. This results in products that are designed better and therefore more compelling.

I think there are some applications where touching the screen is desirable but they are not mainstream desktop or laptop uses (think embedded control panels, presentation tools and handhelds).

I just want Apple to make a plug in USB multi-touch trackpad so I can use it with my Mac Pro.

However I doubt they will because someone will probably write a driver for it to run on Vista. And that would be bad for Apple.

@An Optimist: I omitted nothing about the trackpads in the original column. Did you bother to read it?

Yes, indeed, the Mac Book Pro 2009 is a real piece of art in terms of looks and "brains". I want to share with you a new place i found on internet that features this product at half the price official retailers do. Check it out at: http://bit.ly/6FRFbm.

Yes, indeed, the Mac Book Pro 2009 is a real piece of art in terms of looks and "brains". I want to share with you a new place i found on internet that features this product at half the price official retailers do. Check it out at: http://bit.ly/6FRFbm.