Rumour-mill rumbles on Apple, Immersion vibro iPhone pact claim
Shake-up in handset haptics?
Apple's plans for the evolution of the iPhone could be on shaky ground - in a good way. The company is said to be talking to tactile feedback firm Immersion to build haptics into the handset.
Llittle-known Mac news site Palluxo.com has claimed an unnamed Apple source told it that senior executives from Immersion and Apple met last week to discuss “licensing and implementation issues of iPhone haptics”.
The source also claimed the unnamed executives will meet again this week to discuss the matter further.
It shouldn’t be too hard for Immersion to get a foot in the door with Apple because Immersion’s CEO, Clent Richardson, is a former Apple executive. Between 1997 and 2001, Richardson served a stint as Apple's VP of worldwide developer relations.
The lack of any form of physical feedback from the iPhone’s keypad is a bone of contention for many users because distinguishing between each key pressed becomes more difficult when relying on vision alone.
If Apple is indeed considering implementing a rumble feature into the iPhone, then Immersion would be a good choice. It currently offers a haptic system called TouchSense - you can get a feel for it in the CSN-7040 and CIN-7000 Immersion portable navigation devices.
For the time being, feedback-seeking users will have to make do with a plastic overlay for the phone that provides something similar to haptic feedback - precision holes punched out of it that align with the iPhone’s on-screen Qwerty keys.
COMMENTS
@Scott McKenzie
Oh dear. It sounds like you might get more benefit from the "iPlug". Though you might struggle to fit it up there alongside your head...
@James
Congratulations, thank you very much for updating the rest of the population on the correct choice, we can now all go and purchase the Viewty phone safe in the knowledge that it's "right" "right" for all of us as you've carefully interviewed everyone and assessed their needs and then implemented this study in a controlled fashion to come up with your conclusion.
Thank you so much.
You lost me
Is the point of this article that Apple would need to licence the stupefyingly obvious concept of 'phone vibrates annoyingly when key is pressed' or is the suggestion that they couldn't code something that retarded themselves?
Flames are for the haptic trolls.
Vibrophone
Samsung has implemented this technology into their forthcoming phones.
The idea is that each button gives a vibra feedback every time it is pressed. Saves looking at the keypad and you know for sure you have pressed a key. You can set for a sound beep at the moment but people find the beeps annoying.
I would welcome this.
Haptics...
unnecessary and pointless if you can switch them off, unnecessary and very annoying if you can't. My Touch Dual works just fine without throbbing or beeping.
