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HP cooking 'multitouch' laptops and monitors

by Julian Prokaza on Wednesday 06 August 2008 1 Comment

CoverFlow on a HP monitorThe research guys at HP have been opening their doors to the Wall Street Journal, revealing that they're currently working on bringing Apple-style multitouch to HP laptos and monitors within 18 months' time.

HP's chief technology officer, Phil McKinney, told the paper, "We're focused on recognizing the potential of touch now. We see touch as the almost preferred method for nontechnical users."

By 'nontechnical' we assume he means the legion of non-tech types who've fallen in love with their iPhones - and its touchscreen technology - over the last 12 months.

Of course, Apple has already begun to implement some aspects of multitouch into its MacBook laptops, with a limited set of gesture controls - such as pinch to zoom - available via the touchpad. HP is looking to take things to the next stage with full multitouch screens - something that's so far only been rumoured at Apple.

HP's 18 month time-frame ties in nicely with the expected release date of Microsoft's replacement for Vista, said to have touch functions built-in. That's on track for a 2010 release. No doubt Apple's also working on a touch version of Mac OS to match it.

[ WSJ] 

Originally published on www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk, now incorporated into Broadband Genie
© Dennis Publishing

 

Comments

  • neutral

    by Mali Dharam at 07:18 on 26 Aug 2008Report abuse

    yes it is nice but is not usefule for desgner. Who work with the only mouse with the softwear. :confused:

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