Touchscreens Move Into New Product Segments

From DailyTech: According to IMS Research, 230 million touchscreen handsets are expected to ship this year -- in 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone, only 30 million touchscreen devices shipped. At Mobile World Congress this year there were a number of new touch-enabled phones introduced.

Today the touchscreen is a common feature in the smartphone market, but touch-enabled screens and navigation are moving from the smartphone realm into other device categories. Among the categories touchscreens are migrating too are the notebook and desktop computer categories.

Adding a touchscreen alone to a smartphone doesn't ensure a hit as many phone makers have found out when their touch-screen devices failed to be popular among consumers. Andrew Hsu from Synaptics said, "The trend that we're seeing is that devices are getting smaller and more powerful. This issue is now how to improve user access to data and applications. We believe that touchscreens are really the most efficient way for providing user input control."

In the post iPhone technology market, it’s common to see touchscreens used on netbooks, notebooks, desktop computers and other devices like digital photo frames. The best use for a touch interface is in smaller devices where touch makes sense as a navigation method.

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