Friday, February 8,2008 @ 11:30am
RIM patents tech for touchscreen phone
Although long rumored by analysts, a newly-published filing at the US Patent and Trademark Office confirms that Research in Motion is indeed working on touchscreen technology for its phones. The filing, entitled System and method of integrating a touchscreen within an LCD, depicts an array of parallel electrodes which register input as changes in voltage are detected, triggered by pressure from either fingers or a stylus.
More importantly, it is suggested that the technology could allow for multitouch control, something so far limited to Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and MacBook Air. If implemented into a commercial product, this could cement RIM's position as the number one competitor for Apple in the realm of smartphones. Both companies are, however, dwarfed by the number of phones running the Symbian OS. [via ZDNet]
