I’ve been thinking a lot about the Apple Magic Trackpad
Think about it for a few minutes (Ha! Now I have you thinking about input devices. Win.) Apple has done a ton with multi-touch on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. I think the company is going to go even heavier on touch features with Mac OS. Sure, there are lots of multi-touch gestures that are currently supported, but I think that Apple will design future operating systems with multi-touch in mind from the start. Obviously a touchscreen 27″ iMac would be ridiculous, but controlling a huge screen with a Magic Trackpad totally works.
There are a few reasons Apple would do this. First of all, it realizes that mice are archaic and inefficient. More importantly, it keeps with its “walled garden” approach. By having a familiar touch experience on iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac products, Apple makes it harder for its customers to leave for competing products.
I’m pretty sure I’m right about Mac OS going way heavier with touch in the near future. I just need Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer to dismiss it, then I’d be 100-percent sure I’m right. What do you think of my postulations on Mac OS’ multi-touch future? Am I spot on? Am I crazy?
It can't succeed with a controlled ecosystem though. The OS needs to support it or create an Idevice emulator so you can used purchased items. I think a touch only OSX for a laptop or desktop that supports the App store only would be a big fail.
@smartguy Who said anything about touch only?
I don't think you're crazy or far off. It doesn't sound like we're far from the future of Minority Report.
@Ray
I didn't insinuate touch only. Or at least that wasn't how I wanted it to sound. I would just hope they are savvy enough to realize the walled garden approach is folly on a computer or laptop
@smartguy I disagree. I envision future version of Mac OS supporting mice, but also doing super-interesting things with multi-touch. With the improvements Microsoft has made with Windows 7, this would help Mac OS stand out more.
Also, think of it in terms of how Apple redefined the touch experience with the iPhone. There were touch phones before it, but Apple made the experience incredibly elegant. Apple already improved how touch pads on laptops work and feel. I believe it will change the way people enter input on their PCs with its large touch pads on MacBooks and with the Magic Trackpad on desktop Macs.
@Ray
We are on the same page. I was simply stating that I hope they do not incorporate an app store as the only means of installing software on the machine. Otherwise I will have to jailbreak my iMac. The ecosystem they create with the app store is fine on a phone or even an iPad…but not an a 2k plus machine.
@smarguy Ah, I gotcha. I wasn't talking about "walled garden" in terms of software, but the unified multi-touch experience across Apple phones, tablets, and computers.
I gotta say, I've loved the multi-touch on my Macbook Pro since I've had it, and I've got the Late 2008 model, which did away with the independent button and made the whole trackpad a clickable button (and after I saw the change in real estate, I had to ask myself why no one had thought of it before). So I've got plenty of room to do all the gestures they have, and with the firmware update to enable the new trackpad, I've even got the inertial scrolling now, which doesn't only have a cool factor, but it allows me to scroll through long pages much faster.