The iPhone Circus: Will Touch Take The Center Ring?

No, we aren’t going to start covering the iPhone mania here at GottaBeMobile.com on a regular basis. But it should go without saying that the multi-touch interface is going to have an impact on how touch for data input is talked about in the future. I’ve been waiting (and mostly I still am) to see how all of those who derided UMPCs for not having a keyboard will respond to the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard. We’re starting to see a couple of early reviews (notably Walt Mossberg’s and David Pogue’s) both of which say it takes a few days to get used to the on-screen keyboard. Imagine that. Mossberg goes so far as to say that after five days or so, data input without a keyboard on the iPhone is now a non-issue for him. Interesting.

On the one hand (or is that finger?) I wonder if they gave the UMPC touchscreen and Inking features the same amount of trial? On the other, it will be interesting to see more in-depth coverage of how Apple has integrated touch into the device and how real users take to it. I wasn’t that impressed with Dial Keys on the UMPC in the early going and quite honestly I’m still not, so I think how the software is implemented can have a lot to say about the potential success or failure. Granted the iPhone is a different device than a UMPC, but in my mind, because it is also a phone, data input is a more crucial issue in some respects. This is going to be very interesting to watch after all the hype dies down.

UPDATE: Here’s a link to recently released video showing how the on-screen keyboard works. Interesting.