One of my readers just told me that a young French company has started to sell the Jackito, the first 'Tactile Digital Assistant' (TDA). This new kind of PDA has no stylus, doesn't offer handwriting recognition and has no keyboard. Instead, it is based on touchscreen technology and relies entirely on your thumbs for input -- which are harder to lose than a stylus. And as Jackito has two simultaneous touch points, you can operate it with your two thumbs at the same time, at least according to the company. For an entry price of $600, you'll get parallel-processing capabilities with 7 processors and plenty of brand new technology, including 3ActilOS, a multitasking OS, which is not even referenced by Google. So be warned before purchasing one! However, the approach is pretty unique and I wish them good luck. UPDATE: Even if I expressed some doubts in the above introduction, several readers think this is a scam for several reasons: the company is asking for money before accepting an order; and it accepts only money from PayPal accounts, which is more than suspicious. Please accept my apologies. And don't send any money to this company!!! NEW UPDATE on July 21, 2004: Since this column was written, I met the CEO and the CTO of the company behind the Jackito. And I used an early prototype. I don't know if this TDA will be a success, but one thing is sure: it's real. Check this new column for more, "Exclusive Interview With Jackito's Makers."
These two pictures will give you an idea about this new device (Credit: Novinit).
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Here you can see that you just need one AA battery to use the Jackito. |
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And here is a picture showing how you potentially use this device. |
Why this device carries this stiff price of $600? Here are the three answers provided by the company behind the device.
Because our touchscreen is based on patented technology, enabling it to work with all shapes and sizes of fingers. This technology relies on specialist materials and processes, which have been optimized for fully-automated production of at least 500,000 units of Jackito. We will reduce this price once we have manufactured 500,000 units. After one million units, the price will fall to around $100.
To optimize Jackito’s features (Finger-Touch Control, battery life, fast graphics, Multitasking, Real-Time Processing, etc.), we have had to incorporate Parallel Processing (seven processors) and a powerful Gate-Array. These are unrivalled technologies in the PDA arena, which explains the price.
Lastly, we have made our LCD Fingertip-Touchscreen much larger (60x100mm²) than a standard PDA display in order to optimize fingertip control and graphics.
For more information, please look at the Jackito website.
Source: Jackito website
8:49:29 PM
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