Touch Me Like a Pro: Why New MacBook’s Control Bar is a Success.
Rumors are confirmed. Apple fell sorry for the jack and decided to bring something new to the market — “Touch Bar”, an adaptive touch panel just above its classy predecessor that will make your user experience with professional and sophisticated (or not so) programs better. Frankly saying, touch and customizable keyboards are there already, ArtLebedev’s Optimus is a great example and it’s been around for some years now. However, none of those keyboards made it big.
All previous versions of customizable keyboards are just sloppy. The reason for that is straightforward: users hate doing work. To make such mean of interaction successful and seamless, one should customize every single app on his computer to fit the touch bar into a context, i.e. showing brushes, not a play button, when working with Photoshop. Naturally, it was not possible without a substantial push from the industry.
That is exactly what Apple excels at! (Do not confuse with innovation)
Apple knows deal breakers when it comes down to forcing other companies to comply with its plans because it provides potential high-end customers for software folks such as Adobe or Algoriddim. Failing to integrate new tools that Apple offers is risky. What if your rivals do? MacBook’s touch bar is obligated to be the next big thing since it is a slight competitive advantage for those companies that put it onboard. Even if you were skeptical about the jack earlier this year, you should make a bid for the bar. Abandoning something that still makes money is harder than investing into new features.
We can expect all major players to ship their upgrades with touch bar compatibility ASAP. Moreover, Apple just officially announced that in foreseeable future we are going to remove the physical keyboard at all. How so? Well, what else can you do with the bar beside making it bigger, brighter, more customizable, and ultimately more important than the keyboard itself? I will even be more courage and say that web services will be customizing your keyboard within 3–7 years.
The user side is more tricky. Users do things because they did them before. The power of habit shines no matter where we go: consumer electronics, software or lifestyle. But humans are learners too! Creative professionals working with Office, Illustrator or djay will soon discover all pros of “hot keys on demand” that you don’t have to remember and will adopt them rapidly. They will later pass that experience to the rest of users, expanding the overall demand for touch bars elsewhere.
And yes, no more chips crumbs under the buttons!
As a passionate UX engineer, I am always happy to talk more about the work I do. Get in touch via vlad@toughbyte.com or Facebook and stay tuned for more.
