Oh, Apple, you tease! It's not enough we've all heard the iPhone began life as the Safari Pad tablet? That Intel has leaked Atom-powered portable hints? That the rumors start up again every time the blogsphere even thinks you have a "Special Event" coming our way? Do you really have to go and show us your patents?
Apple Insider says:
Much of the 52-page filing describes methods for accurately detecting and deciphering a plurality of simultaneous contacts on a touch screen, which sets the foundation for future tablet-based products that users can manipulate using not only more than one finger, but more than one hand.
Design guru Jonathan Ive, among others, is credited with the innovation, which includes examples of window control, virtual keyboards, and virtual scroll-wheels.
No word, of course, on when or if we'll ever actually get to hold such awesome mobile power with our own multi-touching hands...
