Motorola Multitouch Investment Could Herald Buttonless Smartphone
Interesting investment news from Motorola today. The company’s investment arm, Motorola Ventures, has put some money into Sensitive Object, a French start-up that has developed haptic technology that can transform almost any surface into a multitouch interface.
As I understand it, Sensitive Object’s “Anywhere MultiTouch” platform uses acoustic touch recognition to capture the audio vibrations that occur when an object is tapped or swiped and uses them to relay user input for information and control. It can be applied to a variety of materials–metal, glass, plastic etc.–rendering them touch-sensitive. Motorola (MOT) could obviously put this to good use, especially helping the company differentiate its touch smartphones from those of its rivals.
Imagine how infuriating it would be for Steve Jobs if Motorola, not Apple (AAPL), was first with an entirely button-free smartphone?
