Believe it or not, the company Apple is developing a keyboard without keys, or at least that's what a patent that was recently filed for registration by the Americans suggests, describing a completely different keyboard for Macs.
According to the Apple company, in the future Macs could have a huge touchpad instead of a traditional keyboard, those from Cupertino describing a method by which they could use Force Touch and tactile feedback instead of buttons for users to press.
Practically the user would press that touchpad just like pressing on the trackpad of Macs, and some vibrating motors implemented under it would generate the impression that a button of a keyboard is pressed, and so Apple would completely eliminate the buttons of a keyboard.
Although the idea itself might seem ridiculous to many, such an implementation would offer for the first time the possibility to customize the format of a keyboard, with users having the freedom to organize all the keys and the trackpad area however they want.
A configurable, force-sensitive input structure for an electronic device is disclosed. The input structure has a metal contact layer, a sense layer positioned below the metal contact layer, and a drive layer capacitively coupled to the sense layer. The input structure may also have a compliant layer positioned between and coupled to the sense layer and the drive layer, a rigid base layer positioned below the drive layer, and a set of supports positioned between the metal contact layer and the rigid base layer.
To make the zones KEY easier to find, Apple would perforate the entire structure in the area where a button would normally be, so the user would know exactly where to press to generate an action similar to what it would normally provide pressing a button.
To be honest, I think this is a great idea and I think Apple will implement it at some point and users will love it, even if at first they will have difficulty using a laptop without a physical keyboard.
What do you think about this idea?
