Icon and Touch Screen Interfaces to Dominate 1 Billion Unit Pocket-Device Market Mar 30, 2004

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The report, "Man Machine Interface Battlegrounds in Portable Device Markets," from research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics new finds that the user interface has become the key competitive battleground. While data input remains a significant barrier for users, digital pen technology will change the manner in which portable devices manage data so that pocket devices may become data input devices.

"[During] the next 5 years, menu-driven devices will give way to products with icons and touch screens," David Kerr, vice president of Strategy Analytics, comments. "Simultaneously, the media player market will grow tenfold as Smartphones and Feature phones compete as entertainment terminals in many applications."

John Moroney, the report's author, says, "Current man-machine interface technologies result in consumers have difficulty reaching and using information stored in feature phones and PDAs and other pocket devices. Digital Pen technology, Motion control and mirroring can significantly improve user access. Strategy Analytics expects over 300 million devices to have motion control by 2010, while digital pen shipments ramp up in the 2007+ timeframe."

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