An old Apple patent that surfaced recently shows the company was potentially ahead of the curve when it came to gesture-swipe-typing for the keyboard on its iOS devices. The illustration (shown above) pulled from government documents displays similar functionality seen on popular third-party keyboard, Swype.
By filing for a patent like this, it shows Apple clearly had at least considered adding a swype-like keyboard to its host of iOS devices. This patent was filed back during the launch of the original iPhone in 2007.
With all that said, the question that still remains is, why hasn’t the company implemented this swipe functionality to its keyboard after all these years? It’s sort of mind-boggling that a company that is widely considered one of the most innovative places around, has yet to bring such a simple feature to its mobile operating system.
The only thing Apple has done to its keyboard is change its looks, not the way it functions. Don’t get us wrong, the keyboard on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch is very functional, and arguably the best when it comes to accuracy. However, on the flip-side, the company could be in the lab creating a more intuitive way to type, and not just swiping across keys.
Via Ubergizmo