Touchscreens are already a big hit with cellphone users. But PC users largely remain chained to their keyboards and mouse. N-Trig, which provides touchscreens for HP and Dell machines, hopes to change that by putting the technology into the hands of independent software developers — the same people whose apps helped propel the iPhone to massive success.
N-Trig has introduced a touchscreen kit for software developers that can be connected to any development PC. The kit, which costs $900, allows developers to display and test programs designed for touchscreens without having to buy computers that already have one.
“The advantage of having a dev kit is that it allows you to use the CPU on a high end workstation for compile times but lets you test the multi-touch features in a box next to it,” says Frank DeSimone, senior director of research and development at SpaceClaim, a company that makes a 3D CAD-like product. “Or you have to compile on a consumer laptop with a touchscreen and that isn’t as fast.”
Apple’s iPhone has made touch a much-desired feature on cellphones. But in PCs, touchscreens have yet to take off. Multi-touch (which involves use of more than two fingers on a touchscreen) is expected to get a boost once Microsoft releases the Windows 7 operating system, its successor to Vista. Windows 7 supports gesture such as pinching and fingertip scrolling. Other Windows programs, such as Paint, will also include new brushes designed for multi-touch and features such as panning across a page in Internet Explorer. Earlier this year, Microsoft led a $24 million investment round in N-Trig.
But so far developers have had to buy touchscreen computers that feature the N-Trig display. Only three PCs — the HP TX2 and two Dell PCs — currently have it. The N-Trig dev kit allows developers to turn any of their computers into a touchscreen enabled machine.
“The N-Trig kit can connect to a very powerful desktop computer,” says Harry van der Veen, CEO of Natural Interface, a Swedish company that offers multi-touch software products for applications such as digital signage and education. “You can easily move it around and it is attractively priced. The fact that it is mobile adds a lot of value to the product.”
And as more developers take to creating multi-touch based apps, N-Trig is betting demand for its touchscreens will increase driving the company’s fortunes.
N-Trig's digitizer box aims to kick start multi-touch apps.
“We are a hardware company but the only way that multi-touch on PCs will become mainstream is if independant software developers create applications such as games and productivity tools,” says Lenny Engelhardt, vice-president of business development for N-Trig.
The N-Trig dev kit box, also known as the digitizer, looks like a tablet computer with few controls. The touchscreen on the digitizer supports both stylus and finger touch and connects to the computer using a standard USB cable. The digitizer box can be moved to any Windows-based computer, though it does not work with a Mac.
“This way the developer community can have a touchscreen without buying a touchscreen computer,” says Engelhardt.
$900 for a touchscreen box may seem expensive, but N-Trig says developer shops can use a single box across many machines. And if there is significant demand for the kits, the company can bring down the costs.
Though Windows 7 won’t be available to consumers till 2010, developers interested in multi-touch will have to start working on creating and testing applications now, says DeSimone. “To be successful to get it right you have to start now,” he says. “If you wait till Windows 7 is out it could be too late to design around the hurdles and have a quality product.”
Photos: N-Trig
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