Giving the Stylus the UX Finger? Not Quite...
Remember using a stylus on PDAs such as the PalmPilot? A fun question for UX people to consider is if the finger has now become the new stylus? Steve Jobs said famously said of pretenders to the iPad throne that "if you see a stylus, they blew it", indicating we didn't need to provide any more styli to tablet users.
I would say he was right for most tablet users. However, as with all good UX, the answer to the question is contextual. Some tasks done on tablets, such as sketching or designing, means users will need a stylus to get their job done properly. And, in the enterprise space especially, we must always address accessibility needs, in this case motor skills impairment requirements.
On a related aspect, I was cornered once at a New Year's Eve party and asked if there was a UX solution that addressed the superiority of using a pen and paper for recalling or iterating ideas. That question and the responses make interesting reading on UX Stack Exchange.
So Steve Jobs may have hated the notion of inventing another stylus, but judging by the number out there intended for some iPad users, the stylus will be with us for a while.
However, I do think that users are no longer willing to learn off a shorthand language such as Graffiti to use a stylus on their device. Using the thing naturally instead is, and will be, the order of the day. The irony of technology appropriating the term stylus in the first place!
