Force Touch tables?
Do protoypes and patents hint at the next big thing to hit Apple Stores?
A WHOLE NEW way to interact with products in Apple Stores may be coming sooner than you think, thanks to some clever tech revealed in a patent application submitted by Apple to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and spotted by the Patently Apple website.
The application, filed in Q2 2016, describes the use of Force Touch technology in a display-topped table, which can interact with any iOS device connected to it — pressing on the screen on an iPhone, for example, will cause the table to respond with sound and graphics. And the idea isn’t as far-fetched as it might sound.
Two years ago, Apple actually installed two prototype Force Touch tables in its flagship San Francisco and New York stores, the aim being to show off the 3D Touch capabilities of the then‑new iPhone 6s. A video posted on YouTube at bit.ly/
forcetouchtable shows visitors in one of the stores pressing on an animated graphic of a fish on an iPhone 6s connected to the table; when they do so, the fish flits away, disappearing off-screen, and ripples of water emanate from the iPhone and across the table, according to how forceful the touch was.
In the patent application, Apple clearly states that “display tables may be used, for example, in a retail setting to present products to consumers and to showcase features of these products,” although they do seem a little reminiscent of Microsoft’s Surface Table (now PixelSense) — albeit in a much more limited and focused way. Today, of course, Apple actually uses tethered iPads in store to display and demonstrate product features, but who knows what the future might bring…