Multi-touch on the iPhone

Apple’s 2007 iPhone combined a multi-touch display with phone, music, and internet functions. This example follows the product’s interactions and supporting systems within the longer history of touch research.

Start with the action

Apple’s announcement described tapping a contact to call, choosing a voicemail from a list, displaying a keyboard when needed, and flicking through photos. Its June retail announcement also described pinching.

These examples make the interaction concrete: act on a visible item and let software present controls suited to the task. The interface’s usefulness still depends on whether a person can discover and perform the action.

What made it a working product?

The announcement described a proximity sensor that disabled the display near the ear and an accelerometer that changed its orientation. The interaction depended on more than the surface someone touched.

Our interpretation: Systems Thinking examines how sensing, software behavior, and the task work together. Reboundary expands the evaluation to surrounding use, including accidental input and recovery from mistakes.

The history before the launch

Researcher Bill Buxton documents multi-touch work at Toronto and Bell Labs in the 1980s and later work by Wayne Westerman and colleagues. That history makes earlier contributors visible alongside Apple’s particular product contribution.

Buxton also distinguishes sensing technology from the interaction it supports. Gestures can be hard to discover, and a flat screen lacks persistent tactile landmarks. An interface must work for its particular audience and situation.