“If there is a billion-dollar gamble underlying Apple’s iPhone, it lies in what this smart cellphone does not have: a mechanical keyboard,” John Markoff reports for The New York Times.
“The keyboard is built into other phones, those designed for businesspeople as well as those for teenagers. But the lack of a keyboard could be seen as a clever industrial design solution. It has permitted the iPhone to have a 3.5-inch screen. A big screen makes the phone attractive for alternative uses like watching movies and that could open up new revenue streams for Apple and its partner, AT&T,” Markoff reports. “The downside is that typing is done by pecking on the screen with thumbs or fingers, something hardly anyone outside of Apple has experienced yet.”
MacDailyNews Note: One of the best reports we have so far is from Andy Ihnatko, for The Chicago Sun-Times, who spent 45-minutes with an iPhone, or about 40-minutes longer than most reporters, shortly after the iPhone was unveiled in January. Inhatko reported, ” I think the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is a huge improvement over the mechanical thumbpads found on the Treo and any other smart phones of its size.” Related article: Ihnatko: Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone (which runs Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) – January 18, 2007
Markoff continues, “Mr. Jobs and other Apple executives argue that the keyboard that pops up onscreen will be a painless compromise. The iPhone’s onscreen keyboard has a dictionary-lookup feature that tries to predict the word being typed, catching errors as they are made.”
“That, of course, requires users to learn the new system, a task that Apple executives acknowledge may require several days. Last month at an industry conference, Mr. Jobs dismissed doubts about the decision to rely on a virtual keyboard, saying that users only had to learn to trust the keyboard, ‘and then you will fly,'” Markoff reports.
Markoff reports, “Yet in the days before the phone is scheduled to go on sale at Apple and AT&T stores around the country, designers and marketers of electronic devices centers are having a spirited debate about whether consumers will have the patience to overcome the hurdle that will be required to type without the familiar tactile feedback offered by conventional keyboards.”
“Many leading designers argue that even before the iPhone has reached the market, it has changed consumer electronics industry standards irrevocably. Dispensing with a physical keyboard has given software an increased importance over hardware in product design, said Mark Rolston, senior vice president at Frog Design, an industrial design consulting firm,” Markoff reports. “Mr. Rolston believes that Mr. Jobs will get away with his gamble. ‘They took a risk and it’s a bold step for the industry,’ he said. ‘This is a worthwhile risk.'”
Full article here.
The smaller blackberrys have the software that finishes your words and Apple is right, the typing is faster and more accurate.
It can’t be worse than the keyboard on my Palm Treo 700p. It sucks.
The Treo’s keyboard is phenomenal. I will never use a virtual keyboard. Mechanical keyboards are the only way to go. The keyboard is going to be the kiss of death for the iPhone.
No mini or virtual keyboard will ever be as good as the real (full sized) thing anyway. I’m sure that the iPhone virtual keyboard will have it’s quirks just like the keyboards with every Blackberry and Palm device do. It certainly can’t be any worse anyway.
And it can’t possibly be worse than having to press a number a gazillion times just to get the right letter in the right case. (For those of us who still use phones that don’t have QWERT keyboards on them.)
If you don’t like, the don’t buy it, you BEE-YATCH!
I think the touch screen keyboard is a brilliant idea – thesurface you’ll need to touch will be no smaller or hard to hit than a physical keyboard, and will likely repsond to a lighter touch.
I have a Nokia n770, which has a screen a little bigger, and on the side, so the keyboard is slightly bigger, at least if you use the onscreen thumb keyboard and not the small where you have to use a stylus.
The onscreen thumb keyboard worked pretty good, and it was without Apples enlarging of letters you have or are about to press, and the other predicting, so i would expect Apples to be even better.
I also have a treo 750, and my GF a 680. + an older 650 and a treo 180 before that. I really like a good keyboard, and in the beginning i missed one for the Nokia 770. The tactile feedback was just not there, but typing with your thumb is quite different that using the 10 finger system on a full sized keyboard. I do not think tactile feedback is needed just as much on a onscreen thumb keyboard, maybe because the screens are so small one can see both where the finger is and what letter it presses.
So i am sure that Apple has another killer product.
It can’t be worse than typing on my blackberry Pearl. I will get an IPhone on day 1 and I have 0 worries about the keyboard.
The percentage of cell phone users currently using QWERTY keypads on smartphones is, what?, 8% or less? For well over 90% of potential iPhone buyers, the touch screen keyboard will be a VAST improvement over attempting to type messages on a normal phone keypad. For that small percentage of users that have experienced the physical QWERTY keypad, some will like the iPhone and some won’t. I think that for the majority of us, the great keypad debate is pretty insignificant. How long does it take to “get used” to a Treo keypad?
iPhone will fail because it does not use smoke signals. Smoke signals are phenomenal and are the only way to go. Smoke signals are going to be the death of the iPhone.
MDN “account” as in: “Duh!”
MacBill
“kiss of death”????…..I think you’ll be eating those words.
Even if you don’t, fine stick with your inferior Treo.
Jobs is such a perfectionist that I can’t imagine that he would sanction such a huge initiative for Apple unless the keyboard works fine. If it flops, Apple’s credibility will be severely damaged, and he knows that. Given his track record, I am sure it will rock.
Typical fearmongering by the New York Slimes. People will have to learn something new? Hide the children and board up the doors!
How much tactile feedback do you get from a cell phone “keyboard” anyways? Enough to make a difference? I sincerely doubt it.
@MacBill:
Bahahahahahahahaha!
Keyboards will go the way of the typewriter.
Say hello to the future.
Geez…the naysayers sound like they type on their blackberrys like they are full sized keyboards. EVERYONE I have seen uses their damn thumbs. Tactile feedback….what a load of crap.
Why is it, when something is outside of the normal paradigm that people crap on it. Wait and see oh ye of little faith i(n the meantime, cool it)
@bloo:
I really think he was making a “funny”!!!! As in – not being serious. –
Toy “keyboards” only exist because most people were too stupid to buy a Newton that could recognize their writing, or too lazy to learn Graffiti. Toy keyboards are just barely adequate when typing text, but as soon as any other characters are required, it becomes excruciatingly painful. Try typing a Canadian postal code, for example. They take the form A1B 2C3. Please bring back the stylus, which is the proper interface for a palm-size device.
Apple’s virtual keyboard will be just fine, as far as toy keyboard go.
Just keep Garry Trudeau away from the iPhone and everything will be fine.
It is official, I don’t know how to type! especially on touch sensitive screen!!!
Off to school I go…. to learn how to type again!!!
Bajeebaahs! what do they think we are? Morons???
MT MacPhee :
You want Graffiti ? Maybe you’ll see it on an iPhone sometime… now that there’s a touch screen, it just depends on the software…
Virtual keyboards will never become popular. Jeeze, push button phones will never become popular, because Methusela’s Great Grandmother told me that everyone prefers to dial…
and man will never break the 100 km/hr land speed record, as the wind resistance would be too great…
Word: “Rednecks”. They rule!
It takes “a few days” to usually master most electronic stuff, especially things with new features. I think it is insulting the intelligence and maturity of people to claim that they won’t even have the patience to spend “a few days” learning something new.
On the contrary, buyers will probably spend weeks just exploring the many things the iPhone will be capable of doing – and they will probably enjoy doing that.
Tiny keyboards will always be a challenge, whether they are mechanical or virtual. The challenge is that you have to pay 100% attention when you type, and you have to do it a little more slowly than on a regular keyboard. What is important is that, first, the device is alert enough to catch any mistakes; second, it is able to alert the user before he/she carries on typing; and third, it allows the user to double-check entries before executing.
Even pressing the number keys on mobile devices is a more deliberate exercise than doing the same thing on a regular landline phone.
Meanwhile, I think it is a given that within hours and days of the iPhone’s release, there will be a flood of complaints about the iPhone’s keyboard (as well as about scratched screens, battery problems etc, etc) in the usual forums.
And they shall all predict doom and gloom in the Apple world.
I’m sure Apple will release the most anticipated piece of technology with a keyboard that doesnt’ work.
<jobs>I want a crappy keyboard so the iPhone is really a biatch to use </jobs>
shheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
I have a TOMTOM GPS device that operates via touch screen.
Even though the touch areas on my GPS are larger, I still miss quite a bit due to my big manly fingers.
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I do predict some sort of stylus will be needed for the iPhone. One: To protect the screen from oils and damage. Two: To hit the keys more accurratly.
I do predict that the iPhone keyboard will need to tweaked to work in landscape mode as well as portrait mode.
I do predict that third party hardware developers will make a keyboard, MyVue glasses and mini-projectors for the iPhone.
I do predict that all sorts of connection devices will eventually come, like hooking the iPhone to a TV.
Perhaps the iPhone will be able to pass through streaming content, from the web right to a TV.
missing has nothing to do with touchscreen – it has to do with device size – anyone mistypes on any cellphone no matter what keyboard it has – mechanical , touch or pen…even voice recognition. It’s the nature of our hands – just too big for the phone – people live with it – the Iphone is about to change your lives
People love the scroll wheel on iPods, but I’m sure that if Apple made it known before releasing, people would complain the same way saying they don’t know if the scroll wheel will be good for navigating or not.
But Apple did not give them that chance and just released it.
@macbill
Your last post and treo will be your kiss of death. At least we’ll all be happy to try something new and different with the iPhone.
It always makes me smile when ever someone predicts doom and gloom because of a new way of ding something.
When steam trains and cars were first develop, they have a man waving a red flag in front to warn pedestrians of oncoming peril!!
New ideas scare people sometimes. A virtual keyboard seems to be one of them. Apple should provide a red flag to everyone buying an iPhone to warn others of danger!
Neither I nor my family have keyboards on our phones, the keypads are only used to dial the occasional number, with a decent address book most of our numbers are easily accessed without the need for multiple key presses. As such the virtual keyboard doesn’t worry me since I have no real need for it, the iPhone as a whole is what I want. If the keyboard works then all the better.
iPhone must have a landscape (bigger) keyboard option – with an area for just a few lines of type. I can’t understand why Jobs was so undecided about this back in January.
For people who already have a smartphone and are used to a keyboard, the virtual keyboard is going to take some trust and getting used to…then you will fly on it. For the average non smart phone Joes like myself, I look forward to learning from the very beginning the touch screen keyboard. I started with a Mac Performa and never had to switch from the dark side, so I didn’t have to change my ways and patterns and reroute ruts in my brain. Sorry, smartphone dudes…if you wan’t on the bandwagon, spend a little time with it before you knock it.
I only hope that the dictionary-lookup feature is more helpful than the T9 dictionary that is built into my Sony Ericsson phone. I need to type text messages in two languages and I just turn the damned thing off.
These people were the ones that said a video monitor could never in a million years take over from…
PAPER.
So let’s ignore their silly desire to write such junk.
People have been using touch screens for years, I don’t see what the big deal is. besides, other than competitors spreading FUD, who would want to brag about the current method of text input?
The predictive text on my Crackberry Pearl is actually pretty good. The keyboard isn’t a full one either, and it’s still remarkably fast for typing e-mails, text messages, etc. I’d imagine Apple’s solution should be at least up to that standard.
So the worst thing they can say is, ‘it might take a week to get used to the keyboard’? I bet any time lost adjusting to the onscreen keyboard will be gained back with all the other advancements. And after the breaking in period, there will not be any time lost at all.
I certainly enjoy touching the display of my Macbook a thousand times a day. If you squint just right, the thumbprints make it look like House has shaved!
I am sure a lot of people found switching from a hand-crank starter on the Ford to an electrical one to be difficult. To give up that wonderful tactile feeling of cranking over your little 4 banger was probably hard.
We have seen the iPhone in action and from what I can see the keyboard works just fine. In fact it looks like it would be easier to type on the iPhone then on any Palm or Blackberry out to date.
I’ve used both. Everyone wants to try to put FUD out there but they can never back it up with any facts. So let’s just wait and see how hard it is to type on the iPhone when real people start using them.
This keyboard is the first of its kind, there is nothing else out there to compare it to, the only thing its lacking is tactile feedback, and knowing apple it will have it soon.
All you have to do is watch the demo by Steve Jobs. He types UNBELIEVABLY FAST AND ACCURATE on it! I’m not worried one bit. But of course, it sure seems like the hounds are out for Apple. Maybe it’s because human nature is flawed, and people think because Apple has done such a good job with the iPod they deserve to fail with the iPhone, regardless of the iPhone itself.
Don’t think Steve (the other one) obsessed over this ONE FEATURE more than another one he’s ever analyzed in he history of him at Apple?
If it can passed THAT test, then no one has anything to worry about. Except Microsoft, and Verizon, and those blackberry people, and Palm Treo. . .
Don’t you think Steve (the other one) obsessed over this ONE FEATURE more than another one he’s ever analyzed in he history of him at Apple?
If it can passed THAT test, then no one has anything to worry about. Except Microsoft, and Verizon, and those blackberry people, and Palm Treo. . .
I also have a Treo, and the physical keyboard is absolutely horrible. I’m looking forward to trying the virtual keyboard, to see if it’s any better. Even if it were only as good, I’d still want the iPhone!
I do agree that having the option to use the keyboard in landscape mode would be great for typing LONG e-mails (the keyboard would then be about the same size as the Sidekicks, and some of the newer Qwerty phones out there), but I’m willing to wait for a software update for that…
Oops, posted twice. Must have been that Blackberry keyboard
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Even if/when the virtual keyboard turns out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, it won’t stop third party people from coming out with mechanical keyboards for the iPhone.
They won’t sell many, but the problem for those who want it will be solved.
The touchscreen buttons will work great. Here’s why. Think about the white keys on an acoustic piano – for the most part, they’re smooth and flat with a tiny space between them. Speaking from experience, folks don’t constantly feel around or even look to sense the edge of the keys in order to play music. In constrast, after using the new keyboard for a short time, one learns the spacing of the keys and the keystrokes become second nature – just like with physical buttons.
” . . . it won’t stop third party people from coming out with mechanical keyboards for the iPhone.”
A Wii controller for the iPhone might be fun.
Or the Nintendo Power Glove!
“To give up that wonderful tactile feeling of cranking over your little 4 banger was probably hard.”
I feel strangely dirty after reading that.
Remember when PC’s were first developed in the 1970’s and
the pioneers (Steve Jobs, etc.) realized that you had to use a
keyboard to use one — and at the time very few people knew
how to type — and our far sighted leader told his colleagues:
Death will take care of that problem.
Which had the wisdom of understanding that the PC would be
incorporated into the life of the young and of future generations;
and not of the ones already grown-ups in the 1960’s & 1970’s
who were already set in their ways, including not using keyboards.
Well, the same solution will take care of the similar problem that
we face here now — coincidentally also including keyboards and
the “fact” that nobody uses virtual keyboards, yet.
It will be the young and the future young who will adapt to
virtual keyboards as natural extensions of intelligent machines;
and they will not believe when told that the old people that came
before them didn’t use them and even doubted their usefulness
because they believed plastic physical keyboards was the
only way humans could interact with communication devices.
Remember also that is was John Dvorak who said the computer mouse would fail.
From wikipedia:
“In 1984, [Dvorak] famously criticized Apple’s inclusion of a mouse with their computers, saying
‘There is no evidence that people want to use these things.'”
I think this concern is way overblown from a business perspective. Most of the iPhone customers will not be replacing their existing fancy “smartphone”; the iPhone will be their first fancy mobile phone. Whether the onscreen keyboard is better or worse than the Chicklet keyboard is most irrelevant. The people buying the iPhone are not buying it for that reason. And once they get it, most users will find it to be a vast improvement over tapping text messages using a numeric keypad on their previous cheap phone.
Apple wins either way, whether the “pro” user thinks the onscreen keyboard is better or worse then a tiny physical keyboard, the typical iPhone customers won’t care because they won’t have a basis for comparison.
I’ve been thinking all along that I might like a small bluetooth keyboard accessory for my iPhone (when I get one.)
The whole point(at least one) was not to have a mechanical keyboard!! At least that was what Steve Jobs said at Macworld.
what if you have fat grubby hands?..so much for touchscreen..
🙁
“what if you have fat grubby hands?”
Cut them off and get new ones from the Robot Devil.
Currently most consumers use an 8-button interface to painfully type text messages, sometimes aided by a mixed blessing named T9.
The iPhone keyboard will be a huge improvement.
You hit it on the nail … man!
I can’t believe this bullshit.
Thanks for your post.
The great thing is… the answer will be determined by an actual experiment, not speculation. We shall all see…
“The smaller blackberrys have the software that finishes your words and Apple is right, the typing is faster and more accurate.”
They suck. Once you use them you’ll never make the mistake of getting a non qwerty phone again.
“It can’t be worse than the keyboard on my Palm Treo 700p. It sucks.”
yes, it can be and is.
“How much tactile feedback do you get from a cell phone “keyboard” anyways? Enough to make a difference? “
Yes.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. “
The big deal is everybody else who’s done it has gone back and added a real keyboard on the 2nd version.
“So the worst thing they can say is, ‘it might take a week to get used to the keyboard’? “
No, the worst thing they can say is that no matter how much you use it it will never be as good as a dedicated thumb keyboard.
“This keyboard is the first of its kind, there is nothing else out there to compare it to,”
Except half a dozen other phones which tried touch only virtual keyboards and failed. And the PDAs before them which tried touch only virtual keyboards.
“Think about the white keys on an acoustic piano “
now think about making the piano keys a fraction of the size of the tip of your finger or thumb.
There has been progress though, it wasn’t so long ago that the FUDsters were spinning that the iPhone had NO keypad at all. Their credibility pond is drying up in a hurry, I don’t know, say a couple a weeks more to go maybe?
“Think about the white keys on an acoustic piano – for the most part, they’re smooth and flat with a tiny space between them.”
It’s well known that even a child can pick up an acoustic piano at the store and be proficient with it after a few minutes of practice.
Do analogies get much stupider? Or do you expect customers to enroll in 3 years of iPhone keyboard lessons?
When I got a palm pilot a number of years ago, it took a little bit of time to get used to the graffiti. But within a day I never had to look back at the cheat sheet anymore. It was easy to adjust.
I can’t imagine the iPhone’s keyboard will be any more difficult to adapt to.
It combines my cell phone, iPod and palm pilot into one device. I’m sold!
NoKeyboardForYou
If you don’t like the iPhone, go buy one of the crappy phones out there. I’m sure you will be happy with it.
“If you don’t like the iPhone, go buy one of the crappy phones out there. “
iPhone, crappy phone, same thing. How does your suggestion solve the iPhone keyboard problem?
The only people concerned are all the other phone manufacturers who are presently kicking their designers for not thinking of it first!
How does your suggestion solve the “iPhone keyboard problem”? Your suggestion is all FUD. If it turns out to be bad, then I’ll take back what I said. I say that because I know I won’t have to. Just because you are not willing to take a chance with an Apple product doesn’t mean everyone else wants to do the same.
I thonk Iphone keyvoard is gantastix. Viryual keynoard tocks!!!!