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Comment by divbzero | Hacker News Reader

“Who wants a stylus? You have to get ’em and put ’em away, and you lose ’em. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with—born with ten of them. We’re going to use our fingers.”

— Steve Jobs, 2007

(8 years before the introduction of the Apple Pencil)

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When Steve Jobs said that, he was talking about a stylus as a main or even only input device. And he is still right about it. The Apple Pencil for the iPad never was a main input device but an alternative.

That wasn't the only time Jobs trashed a category Apple didn't currently have annon-sale model for, but was actively developing; he also slurred 6-inch Android phones as "Hummers", and mocked the 7-inch Android tablets as "too small" a little while before Apple launched its iPad Mini.

Exactly, but watch people leap into to defend how brilliant he supposedly was.

I see no contradiction.

There’s no contradiction here. Jobs’ point was about the MAIN input method. A touchscreen that requires a stylus as main input method still is a terrible idea. The Apple Pencil is meant for alternative and creative input, something you can’t do well with your fingers.

Please, leave that reddit-esque “iSheep”-type of comment out of here.

To be fair, 7.9 inches is quite a bit bigger than 7 inches. That's ~30% more screen area.

Touch input needn't be the main input to a laptop with a keyboard and a trackpad...

> (8 years before the introduction of the Apple Pencil)

I have briefly used one of the old PDAs with Windows Mobile and a stylus, and i have an ipad with an apple pencil.

They are two completely different experiences.

A stylus is clunky, particularly if you consider styluses as they were back in the day: pieces of dumb plastic with a specific shape to fit in the PDA itself, to be used on dumb resistive touch screens.

the apple pencil (as well as other modern styluses) are completely different, and work on capacitive touch screens.

The Pencil isn’t a stylus. At least not primarily. It’s designed for freehand. This is probably why they insisted on it charging via Lightning by removing its end cap. They didn’t want people getting ideas.

For a device that fits in your hand I understand his argument, for something that takes more than one hand to hold, I can see the usefulness of a different "pointer" device, but also, artists use things like the Apple Pencil, it makes way more sense.

And here we are, and the Pencil STILL doesn't work on the defectively oversized trackpads on Apple laptops.

So... we're talking about more than one blunder here.

> And here we are, and the Pencil STILL doesn't work on the defectively oversized trackpads on Apple laptops.

Many (including me) argue that Apple sells the best trackpads ever made, the size being a key attribute.

That and the excellent palm rejection. Probably why other manufactures didn't make track pads as large

It's just like Apple to create a problem and then have to implement an overly-complicated and flawed "solution."

Then they're not paying attention to how little of the pad they actually use, and the irritating-as-hell spurious presses that can cost you several minutes (or more) of work.

There's nothing like filling out a form (or comment) on a Web page to have it suddenly reload or back-page, deleting everything you entered.

I've literally never had a "spurious press" on a modern Apple trackpad.

I absolutely loathed non-Apple ones when I had to use them, the palm detection was completely useless and the cursor just swooshed around. I usually disabled the touchpad in the BIOS and just used the red nipple-mouse on Lenovos instead.

I love the Mac trackpad but would love it more if the pencil worked with it

A larger and, more importantly, taller trackpad that also functions like a Wacom with Apple Pencil, which would compel Apple to adopt a more square display, 3:2 or 4:3, capable of showing more lines of code. Too bad that would cannibalize the iPad line, so Apple would never do it.

Calling Apple’s trackpad defective and/oversized has got to be one of the most tone-deaf and uninformed things I’ve seen this year.

Please.

Then you obviously don't do much work with it.

8 hours a day every work day for the last 15+ years, plus whatever I do at home with just a laptop (I have an external touchpad for most use).

You must have some weirdly conductive palms or something.

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