Okay, we’re stretching that a little… the patent, credited to one John Elias (founder of touch input company Fingerworks which Apple bought back in 2005), is aimed at either a small touch-input iPod or potential iPhone. The idea, in brief, is that the back of the device is the touch-sensitive part, not the screen. This eliminates screen smudges from messy fingers, and allows you to control the iPod/ iPhone with one hand. Seems to us it could be a bit fiddly to use, but hey, we’re not interface engineers. Anyway, here’s an illustration of the design:
(Via AppleInsider)
What is also interesting is that they are not showing a qwerty keyboard, instead it is the alphabet in the correct order. I wonder if that is a feature users will not enjoy because it will take time to adjust to.
Except that pesky “D”