Not really, they already did that. I’m not referring to the innovations that the company has shown with its iPhone and iPad forever changing how we compute on the go, but rather simpler things from a time long past. I moved to Guatemala in 2002, and with me came one of my most prized possessions, my iPod. To say that it was not understood by the locals would be the acme of understatement. And by locals I don’t mean the proud highlanders and jungle dwellers descended from the Maya, I mean the expat community that ultimately became my friends when they saw my iPod. Few had seen one before, but as I turned the wheel to show them just what 5GB of music looked like they were amazed. My point is that I actually turned a wheel. Never mind that my first generation iPod only had a FireWire connection and I didn’t have a Macbook or any other Mac for that matter, the only computer that could allow me to add or subtract from my music library.
By the time the second generation iPod was released, the wheel was gone. It appeared to still be there but it didn’t move. Rather, it simply sensed that I was trying to use the wheel and obliged my selection with what looked like magic at the time. Skip to today, where’s the wheel? Gone. For that matter, where’s my iPod? It’s been replaced by my iPhone with 64GB capacity, touch screen, and long since broken home button. I’ve been relegated to using a virtual home button on my touch screen due to overuse(?) of my actual home button.
A recent rumor making its way through the inter-webs suggests that this won’t be a problem for users of the next generation of iPhones.
Rather, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be replacing the home button with a capacitive touch-sensitive button covered by scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass. That’s a mouthful but a relief given my aforementioned problem.
Sam Oliver at Apple Insider reported that, “Well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in January that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was planning on including a fingerprint sensor under the home button of the ‘iPhone 5S.’ He gave no indication that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) planned to ditch the physical button that can be pressed, however.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rumors will always persist and often never come to fruition. This one, however, just makes sense.
