By Jim Barry, CEA’s Digital Answer Man

One of the things I do often in my travels as CEA’s “Digital Answer Man” is hand new gadgets – wireless phones, e-books, mp3 players − to folks at TV stations, radio stations and newspapers. Recently I’ve noticed that virtually everyone reflexively begins to tap the screen whether it’s a touch screen or not. The assumption has become that if it’s new, it’ll be touch!

We know of course that’s not the case − at least not yet − but it soon may be. Touch screens have been around for many years but have just recently become so prevalent that we’re surprised when a new device doesn’t have one. The iPhone embellished the profile for touch screens and raised the bar for competitors who are still trying to catch up. But there are signs that touch screens may be ready for prime time on bigger gadgets including desktop PCs. I recently had the opportunity to try out the new HP Touch Smart all-in-one desktop PC and it’s very cool indeed.

Several prognostications see touch screen models comprising 10 percent of PCs this year. Windows 7 has touch capability ingrained in the new operating system another sign that touch technology is migrating from hand-held devices to the desktop.

Obviously touch screens work better for certain applications than for others and the still nascent tablet computer category holds the most promise for widespread use in something bigger than a handheld. But there seems little doubt that if you’re not already enjoying a touching relationship with your computer, you will be soon.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Digital Answer Man, Portable Electronics. Reply to this post, or trackback from your own site. Follow responses to this entry through the comments RSS feed.