Apple Patent App Describes Multitouch With Haptics Feedback

Apple tends to work on its own tech rather than adopt tech that is already on the market and developed by other people. This is often a good thing since Apple tends to come up with tech that works very well. The downside is that it takes Apple a long time to bring things to market other devices already have.

Haptics feedback for touchscreens is an example of this. There are already several devices on the market that provide haptic feedback when a virtual button or key is pressed. Honestly, most of the haptic feedback systems I have tried are not that great.

A patent app has surfaced that shows how Apple plans to integrate haptic feedback into future devices like the iPhone and iPad. The application is called "Multi touch with Multi Haptics" and was filed in April of 2009. The app shows haptic actuators spread around the touch panel and device housing and a database of response profiles that allow the haptics feedback to be customized to specific gestures. That would mean one type of feedback for zoom and another type for changing pages.