Tech could be added to numerous electronics

A newly-published patent application shows Apple's possible or one-time interest in adding touch-sensitive edges to some of its products. Under a proposed scheme, various kinds of electronics including phones, GPS devices and media players could have touch components implanted in their bezels, accompanying or instead of a touchscreen display surface. Onscreen elements would be used to indicate where on a bezel to touch for different commands.

Users could for instance touch a corner to bring up a menu, or at several midpoints to make selections or orient onscreen objects. Apple may however be unlikely to implement the patent, as it was originally filed for in June 2006, just months before the introduction of the company's first multi-touch display as part of the iPhone. The iPhone and the iPod touch have little room on their bezels for controls, and the first-generation iPad is missing the technology regardless. Multi-touch gestures such as rotation may have made bezel commands obsolete.

by MacNN Staff