There are a lot of things I could write about this week. Hon Hai (Foxconn), the world’s largest electronic contract manufacturer, is scrambling to convince customers such as Apple and Dell that they shouldn’t take their business elsewhere simply because working conditions in Hon Hai’s Chinese factories are so harsh that workers are committing (or attempting) suicide in frighteningly large numbers. One result of the scramble is that some activities may be returning to Taiwan for implementation in new, highly automated factories, while some processes that are still more economically done by hand may be shifted to Vietnamese factories (where significant pressure for higher salaries and more humane working conditions is not yet apparent).

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor

Or I could write about LG Display’s plan to establish a JV with iriver, Korea’s leading eBook reader manufacturer, to develop, produce, and sell EBRs. The goal is to reach an annual production rate of one million units by 2011, which seems realistic given the explosion in the segment.

Or I could write about the rapid run-up in LED production and sales, or the explosion in touch-screen use. Okay. Touch screens. Let’s talk a bit about that.

Touch-sensor specialist Synaptics, founded two decades ago by technology giants Carver Mead and Federico Faggin, isn’t content to ride the current touch wave to increased sales. (If you have a notebook PC, the chances are good that its touch pad was made by Synaptics, and the companies touch panels and drivers are appearing in a growing number of Android- and Windows-based cell phones.)

Synaptics looked at the typical smart phone and saw a host of problems with the user interface. Specifically, says technology strategist Andrew Hsu, a smart phone, which is supposed to be a mobile device, frequently forces the user to come to a halt while he uses both hands and all of his concentration to enter and absorb information, and that includes touch phones. Part of the problem is that as your fingers are entering data on the screen-based soft keyboard, they are blocking your view of the screen. It frequently requires you to hold the phone in one hand while pressing a hard or soft key with the other. How, asks Hsu, could you solve these problems while making the smart phone a product that can be held and operated with only one hand, at least for the vast majority of functions?

To answer that question, Synaptics has developed a mobile phone concept called Fuse. At CES in January, a partly functioning demonstrator was being shown behind closed doors. At SID, Hsu was privately showing a more fully functional version. The Fuse concept is nothing if not innovative. A touch panel is placed on the back of the phone, so you can actuate the phone without blocking your view of the screen. How do you know where your finger is? The finger position is indicated on the screen by a more brightly illuminated area, or a graphic treatment that makes it look as if that screen position is bulging up toward the user with the pressure of the finger from the rear. Pressure sensors are built into the sides of the phone, so squeezing the phone firmly has the effect of hitting the Enter key. Different strengths and speeds of squeeze can produce different effects.

The platform is also equipped with tilt sensors and accelerometers, so it is possible to select an option by tilting the phone and actuating by squeezing it. The concept also incorporates rendered 3D graphics, so large numbers of options can be viewed by turning objects in three dimensions.

All of this takes significant processing horsepower, but Moore’s Law is likely to solve that problem sooner rather than later.

Where’s the benefit to Synaptics? As Hsu said cheerfully, if even parts of the Fuse concept are adopted, it means phone manufacturers will be buying more touch sensors and controllers. In addition, anything that makes the mobile handset a more appealing and more functional device will benefit all participants in the supply chain. For a video that shows much of what I’ve described, see http://vimeo.com/9420915.

After playing with the Fuse concept, Apple’s iPhone 4 is a snooze.