Apple patents touchscreen unlock gestures

IMHO, this is a good idea from Apple. Prior to that, I have to press two buttons to unlock my Sony Ericsson phone. I have to press and hold the Play button on my Blackberry to unlock the key pad.

Though I don't have an iPhone, I would love the ability to unlock with just a swipe instead of figuring out the where the button to unlock the keypad on my phone is in the night

Is there no prior art? Nintendo DS was released in 2004; all those PDAs prior to that, and there's no scribble to unlock? Or is the finger the novel aspect?

This is getting ridiculous.

And it's showing no signs of slowing.

I agree completely, but it's interesting to remember the entire crowd gasped loudly when Steve did the first swipe-to-unlock during the original intro of the iPhone.

IIRC, everyone was so impressed he locked the phone and did it again.