Technology research firm Gartner, Inc., US, has released a special report titled 'iPad and Beyond: What the Future of Computing Holds'. The report seeks to examine how the iPad has impacted the hardware industry, and how media tablets are changing what users will expect out of their computing devices.
Multitouch on the iPad and other media tablets has liberated users from the hardware keyboard and pointing device. As media tablets become more commonplace, users will expect the convenience and simplicity of multitouch user interfaces when they interact with other computing devices, says the report.
Makers of PCs and consumer electronics are noticing the shift in consumer expectations and are incorporating features popularised by the iPad into the new products they are developing, it has been observed. Multitouch technology has become the de facto interface of high-end smartphones and media tablets, and will extend to additional consumer electronic devices and to PCs.
Interface technologies can be clustered around five basic modalities, the Gartner report points out. They include state of mind (of the user), human-computer hybrids, action detection, speech and biosensing. Of the interface modalities, action detection has been extensively used to this point because touch - for example, pressing a key, clicking a mouse or touching a screen — is the standard way to interact with computing endpoint devices, such as tablets, PCs and smartphones.
Gartner analysts have said the iPad has created a transformational change in how people interact with computers. The report includes links to nearly 20 research documents that examine how tablets are changing how people interact with computers.
Additional information is available at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/ipad-media-tablet/future-of-computing.jsp.
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