OSNews

Using an existing technology on a new device does not make you the inventor of said technology.

First of all, fully touchscreen phones already existed long before the Iphone -- no sticks nor jog wheels needed.

Secondly, the concept of multitouch on a touchscreen phone was obvious, but required miniaturization to develop to a point in which it was feasible. In such instances, the vendor with the deepest pockets often comes out with the first version.

Additionally, manufacturers were skeptical of the value of multi-touch on a phone, relative to the expense/risk of being the first to implement it.

Furthermore, many still question value of multi-touch, in general.



Apple was not the first to formally suggest the use of multi-touch on a phone. Synaptics (an Apple supplier) did so before Apple: http://www.synaptics.com/about/press/press-releases/synaptics-and-p...

Here's an article acknowledging that Synaptics was there before Apple: http://www.getusb.info/is-apple-iphone-synaptics-clearpad/

In addition, Nintendo was granted a patent for use of multi-touch on a hand held device prior to the release of the Iphone (the patent was applied for in 2004): http://www.joystiq.com/2006/02/26/patent-application-reveals-ninten...

So, Apple did not innovate (invent) the multi-touch phone -- they were just the first to get one into production.

In regards to Apple's multi-touch implementation being intuitive, to do things as simple as cut-and-paste on the Iphone requires a lengthy tutorial: http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Cut-Copy-And-Paste-With-IPhone...

"Um, if multi-touch was so obvious and existed 20 years prior, then why oh why wouldnt all the smart phone vendors that for years had users navigating phones with jog wheels and sticks have used it."

Following your line of logic, here are a few others things we should be using instead of existing tech regardless of limitations that make it practical at the time:

1). They have nuclear powered submarines, why is my nuclear powered laptop?

2). OLED has existed for a while now, where is my 52 inch OLED tv?

3). I take vitamins in pill form that have most of the nutrients I need for a day in one serving. Why isn't all my food in pill form?

4). I have a universal remote and it can control all the devices in my house. When I go outside some times the sun hurts my eyes. Where is my universal remote for adjusting the physical properties of the world around me with mere button clicks?

...i was going to go on and on and on but you get the point. Just because a tech exists doesn't mean it would be simple to implement or practical to implement. It's just the way it is. otherwise we would have have fiber based internet to our houses, graphine would have replaced silicon, and quantum computers would be our overlords and force us to build mighty pyramids to ensure future generations of human slaves know whos boss....