"Now a four-year-old Israeli start-up has won backing from several major computer and mobile equipment makers recently for a digital pen that could provide the long-sought after alternative to keyboards and mice in new electronics.
The potential breakthrough from OTM Technologies Ltd. allows mobile phone and handheld computer users to gather and edit text from various sources, play games and sketch drawings, even navigate a screen with mouse-like "point and click" movements....
OTM's Virtual Pen, or 'VPen,' works on a variety of surfaces, from computer screen to paper, and even human skin. It offers freedom of hand motion, unlike a competing digital pen-and-paper combination from Anoto of Sweden which requires a special 'electronic paper' to recognize the pen's movements....
The sweet spot for digital pens may prove to be an emerging market for smart phones, hybrid devices that are half handheld computer and half mobile phone on steroids.... Digital pens represent a natural accessory for a smartphone user on the go....
OTM's technology can also substitute as a kind of mobile phone joystick for use by game-playing teenagers, officials believe.
Last month in Germany, Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker, showed its latest line of mobile phones working with a wireless OTM pen, the first writing instrument for cellphones to operate on so-called Bluetooth networks.
Microsoft sees OTM's digital pen as a more intuitive way to enter data into handheld computers and mobile phones using its software. At the CeBIT trade show in Germany, Microsoft showed off a Compaq iPAQ handheld linked to an OTM digital pen." [Reuters, via Slashdot]
The Shifted Librarian adds: I wonder if they'll eventually be able to embed a chip in the pen (Java or something) that stores your personal information (credit cards, medical history, etc.) but only lets the owner use it based on biometrics. Talk about verifying your signature, and it would work as ink, e-ink, or digital signature.
We've long speculated that pen-like input devices might eventually become tremendously powerful tools. This looks like an interesting variation on the theme.
