The popularity of touchscreen devices is something that cannot be denied. Practically everyone owns touchscreen technology today, whether that be a smartphone, a tablet PC, a touchscreen laptop, a camera, or a touchscreen television. It’s even been reported that 70 percent of children own a touchscreen device, with parents frantically searching for easy ways to clean a laptop screen from sticky finger marks! Touchscreen technology has revolutionised the way we use our devices, but how has it grown over the years, and does it have what it takes to last?
A Brief History of Touchscreen
We tend to think of touchscreen technology as being quite a new introduction. In fact, the concept has been around since the 1960s. It was in the 1980s that the touchscreen as we would recognise it today arrived on the market in the form of the HP-150 computer but the less said about that the better! Using infrared beams that would be broken by touch, the computer could be operated by anything that happened to make contact with the screen, such as dust, dirt, or even cat paws.
The 1990s, of course, saw the PDA becoming the next big thing, while the early 2000s saw the rise of touchscreen technology by banks striving to make it easier and quicker for customers to check their balance or withdraw money at a cash machine. It wasn’t until Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 that touchscreen technology really became a major talking point. Having been around for more than 50 years and still going strong, it seems that the touchscreen isn’t something that’s going to die out anytime soon.
A Bright Future?
Touchscreen technology appeared to peak in 2010 when sales increased by nearly 100 percent on the previous year, but the expansion of use and the introduction of the technology onto a wider range of equipment has seen this peak last for much longer than originally anticipated. Touchscreen televisions are beginning to work their way into a domestic setting, while touchscreen monitors now hold a 0.4 percent market share, which is growing all the time. Touchscreen now undoubtedly dominates the technology market, accounting for an estimated 80 percent of mobile device sales in Europe and the United States, and just over half of all sales on a global scale.
If recent reports are to be believed, it appears that touchscreen hasn’t quite reached its peak yet, and the best is yet to come. It’s estimated that around 1.8 billion touchscreen units are currently shipping all around the world, with tech experts anticipating that this figure could almost double to reach 3 billion by 2016, with laptops expected to have the most significant impact. By all accounts, touchscreen is most definitely here to stay.