The future of touchscreens will change how we see the world

Have you heard of The Astonishing Tribe? No? Well you’ve probably used their technology several times this week. And you are going to be using it a lot more in the future.

Smartphones are expected to be one of the bestselling presents this Christmas but this current slate of state-of-the-art technology is still in its infancy. Touchscreen devices have critical usability issues which prevent thousands of people from adopting the technology. Faced with these challenge The Astonishing Tribe (TAT @tatmobileui) released the results of their Open Innovation Experiment, a project that challenged designers and developers to imagine what touchscreen technology will be like in the near future (circa 2014).

The results of the experiment are astonishing, TAT predict the development of mallable screens, hyper-location aware devices and, perhaps most importantly, steroscopic (3D screens) touch screen technology (as will be included in Nintendo’s new DS system). Speaking about the results TAT said,

We will soon have dual screens, malleable screens, screens built into wifi connected mirrors, desks or backside of gadgets clothed with e-ink screens, tactile feedback, color screens with great contrast in sunlight, holographics/stereoscopic screens, color e-ink touch screens, or screens actually knowing where they are in relation to other screens thanks to ultrasonic emitters and microphones.

The Astonishing Tribe are a usability and interface design company from Sweden who’s interface technologies are now used in over 470 milion digital devices around the world. This TAT technology was included in 20% of all touchphones shipped globally.

They work with some of the worlds largest technology companies such as Google, Sony Ericsson, Volvo, PayPal, Asus, Fujitsu and Samsung so, fingers crossed, we will see this tech soon.