Monday, May 6, 2002
My kingdom for a Jog Dial
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 11:04 AM
I've always been a big fan of the Jog Dial found on Sony PDAs - it has a very tactile feeling that I find easy to use, and allows for a greater level of control. I always wondered why I hadn't seen any Pocket PC OEM offering a similar solution, and now I know why.
When I was at CeBit, I talked to someone with Fujitsu-Siemens who had worked on the LOOX project. He was also a big fan of the Sony Jog Dial, and he said they were interested in using it, until they discovered how expensive it was for them to license the patented technology from Sony. My hunch is that Sony has priced the licensing out of reach for every OEM, thus ensuring that only Sony devices will have that technology.
I don't know about you, but I find that very frustrating. The Jog Dial is a simple usability enhancement that would make all PDAs easier to use, but Sony has determined to keep it for themselves. Are there any non-Sony PDAs out there using the Jog Dial? I'd love to be proven wrong.
When I was at CeBit, I talked to someone with Fujitsu-Siemens who had worked on the LOOX project. He was also a big fan of the Sony Jog Dial, and he said they were interested in using it, until they discovered how expensive it was for them to license the patented technology from Sony. My hunch is that Sony has priced the licensing out of reach for every OEM, thus ensuring that only Sony devices will have that technology.
I don't know about you, but I find that very frustrating. The Jog Dial is a simple usability enhancement that would make all PDAs easier to use, but Sony has determined to keep it for themselves. Are there any non-Sony PDAs out there using the Jog Dial? I'd love to be proven wrong.
