Why does Apple think that a stylus is a design flaw?
“It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it.”
Steven P. Jobs – CEO, Apple Inc.
I wonder why is it that Apple considers the use of a stylus as a design flaw?
I understand where Steve is coming from and as an interaction designer I agree that a touch interface should NOT depend on the accuracy offered by a stylus to be usable, but c’mon!
Cuneiform tablets: Yup Steve, we've been using writing tools since the bronze age, but hey, fuck it! why not do it with the fingers? ohh... that's right, they are fat, bulky, not very accurate chunks of meat!
Making the decision to cut off the possible use of a stylus (in the worst scenario) or a digitizer pen (in the best) as an alternative to your fingers in a device like the iPad out of sheer principle is like denying the importance that writing tools have had on human history all the way since the cuneiform script and the tablets they were written on (see that? how I use the word tablet?).
And this is specially true if you are proclaiming your product to be a revolution on personal computing, meant to be used also for work and study.
Maybe the guys at Apple have evolved into this?
Mastering tools and understanding how these ENHANCE our capabilities by helping us overcome our limitations is at the core of human civilization. Fingers are great for some things, but they will never replace specialized tools. Finger painting is for kids and I can’t imagine the first person who would trade a ballpoint pen for an inked index finger.
The iPad would be a bit closer to a truly revolutionary product (not that I think it is) if atop of all the sugar coated ease of use you could have hand written input and on screen drawing capabilities.
Hi,
I wonder why is it that you and Apple consider the use of a stylus as a design flaw?
I understand where you are coming from and as an interaction designer I agree that a touch interface should not depend on the accuracy offered by a stylus to be usable, but c’mon! Cutting off the (possible) use of a stylus (in the worst scenario) or a digitizer pen (in the best) out of sheer principle in a device like the iPad is like denying the importance that writing tools have had on human history all the way since the cuneiform script and the tablets they were written on.
Mastering tools and understanding how these ENHANCE our capabilities by overcoming our limitations is at the core of human civilization. Fingers are great for some things, but they will never replace specialized tools. Finger painting is for kids and I can’t imagine the first person who would trade a ballpoint pen for an inked index finger.
The iPad would be a truly revolutionary product if atop of all the sugar coated ease of use you could have hand written input and on screen drawing capabilities.
I would love to pick your brain on this one.
