Somewhat OT: Windows Phone 8

[Richard Gaskin]

Bob Sneidar wrote:

 > I have said before, but it bears repeating, the thing that makes
 > mobile devices appealing to use with a touch interface, is that
 > the apps do not have nearly the functionality that a full blown
 > laptop or workstation does, and therefore less things to "touch".
 > Using a touch interface in OS X or Windows will tire someone out
 > in a hurry, if the task requires a lot of interaction.
 >
 > I think a touchair would be a mistake on Apple's part.

At one time I felt the same way.

Then I got the Asus Transformer.  It's well-named:  it totally 
transformed my expectations for touch devices.

As both a tablet and a netbook in a single device, it's become my 
favorite in both categories.

Months of much enjoyment with it later, now and then when I'm using my 
regular laptop I find myself touching the screen, only to be 
disappointed that I get no response.

Personally, I see a TouchAir as inevitable, every bit as much as the 
eventual merging of OS X and iOS into a single omni-device OS, much like 
Win8 and Ubuntu today.

As form factors continue to diversify, the capabilities of what is 
currently seen as two categories of devices will continue to overlap and 
merge, eventually reaching the point where such division will no longer 
have any meaning.

If Apple doesn't have a plan for this, they'll find themselves playing 
catch-up with wearables or whatever the next big form factor frenzy is.

But I suspect they already do.

In March they took out another patent related to wearables.

The future belongs to single-OS ecosystems, which are nimble, scalable, 
and adaptable across a wider range of devices than we see today.

The tablet is not the end of the road, but just a mid-point to 
increasing ubiquity of computing and the Internet....

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
  Follow me on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/FourthWorldSys