Apple has been approved a patent for the iPhone device’s input method – the touch screen. While its a bit more specific than just a touchscreen it makes one wonder what this means for competitors and future developers.

Apple’s claims include: ‘A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.’

Apple has defended their patents legally before – so I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Anyone got any thoughts ?

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