Apple Computer’s search for ‘Handwriting Recognition Engineer’ revives ‘Tablet Mac’ rumors

21 years ago

Apple has recently posted a job description for a “Handwriting Recognition Engineer” to work out of Santa Clara Valley, California:

Are you passionate about providing handwriting solutions to end customers? Do you strongly believe that using a stylus and a tablet is the way to interact with computers?

Apple Handwriting Recognition team is seeking an engineer who will be responsible for advancing gesture and handwriting recognition on Mac OS X. The ideal candidate will be an expert in the area of pattern recognition, with an excellent understanding of handwriting recognition issues. The person will also assume primary responsibility for maintaining existing code and tools.

Key Requirements:
• Expert in the area of pattern recognition
• Strong design and analytical skills
• Strong coder with experience in C
• Ability to write quality code and ship quality products
• Ability to manage several concurrent projects
• Track record of innovation and excellence on previous assignments

Additional Desired Skills and Experience:
• Well versed in the area of handwriting recognition
• Knowledge of and experience with neural network algorithms
• Experience with Unix and familiarity with Mac OS X
• Knowledge of Cocoa or Carbon (with desire and ability to learn the other)
• Excellent communication skills

PhD or a minimum of 5 years experience

Apple Handwriting Recognition team is responsible for Inkwell which allows Mac OS X users to use their graphics tablets to write wherever one would want to on the screen, and the recognized text just flows to the current insertion point, as if it had been typed on a keyboard. Users can also use Inkwell to write commands. Inkwell provides a set of simple gestures that can be used for common functions, such as cut, copy, paste and select all. More info about Apple’s Inkwell here.

[Attribution: Mac Rumors]
So, does this job posting hint at a forthcoming Tablet Mac (the computer tablet done right), the rebirth of the Apple Newton, this thing, or something else?