Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman today revealed that Apple is internally considering adding a touchscreen to its Mac devices. The move would go against the company’s long-standing orthodoxy, which co-founder Steve Jobs once called an “ergonomic disaster. But Patentlyapple, a foreign technology media outlet, said Apple filed a patent for a touchscreen for the iMac back in 2010.
Apple has argued for more than a decade that laptops are not suitable for carrying touch screens and that the iPad is a better choice. Apple is also concerned that a touch-screen version of the Mac could cannibalize iPad sales.
The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs also once called the touch screen on laptops an “ergonomic disaster” and said the model “doesn’t work.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering for iOS and macOS, publicly emphasized in October 2014 that Apple would not launch an iMac with a touch screen, but in an October 2022 interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Joanna Stern, Federighi gave an ambiguous answer “Who’s to say?” But this is a dramatic change in his position for 2014.
Patently Apple discovered the patent in August 2010 and issued an article, “The Mother Lode: Welcome to the iMac Touch.
