Fred Swartz

What an Apple Tablet Has to Be

@Roger Knights who said "Doug Englebart (sp?), inventor of the graphical interface and mouse, also invented a gadget that (after a little training) allowed one-handed typing, using key-chords--and at a faster speed than a keyboard. (Nowadays it could operate wirelessly.) Apple could offer this as an accessory, along with online training. Engelbart was very disappointed that no manufacturer got behind his gadget and gave it a push, because he thought it was his best idea."

There's a long history of chorded input preceding Engelbart, and you can currently buy chord keyboards/pads, eg FrogPad or Twiddler2. Despite the "obvious" superiority over QWERTY, a number of companies in the past have gone out of business selling chorded input devices.