"Yuck."
That is what Apple founder and then CEO Steve Jobs had to say about having a stylus, when he introduced the iPhone in 2007.
"Who wants a stylus?" Jobs asked. "You have to get them and put them away and you lose them. Nobody wants a stylus." He went on to say that "the best pointing device in the world" was the human finger, introducing the iPhone, with its revolutionary capacitive touchscreen, enabling pinch-to-zoom in the time of BlackBerries and PalmPilots.
Fast forward to eight years later, Apple has announced that it will be releasing the Apple Pencil, a $99 product which can be used conjunctively with its new iPad Pro. The iPad Pro boasts of being the most powerful tablet yet, and with the Apple Pencil, it promises to be a dream tool for designers and illustrators on-the-go.
The Apple Pencil's three-axis pressure sensitivity can produce both thin and heavier strokes, depending on the pressure and angle of use. It can also be used simultaneously with your finger.
David Pierce of Wired was impressed. "It is, bar none, the most fluid and lag-free stylus I've ever used. The big, white cylinder is downright fancy; it feels like you should use it for calligraphy or signing the Declaration of Independence. But whether I was marking up an email in Mail, or doodling in Notes, it worked just incredibly well," he stated on his review.
AnandTech also gave these glowing remarks: "This is actually an incredible feature because it adds an element to the stylus user experience that was present in a pencil/pen/marker but absent in any stylus implementation to my knowledge. I really think that this will be a feature that takes the Apple Pencil from just a good stylus implementation to the best stylus implementation in the industry."
Still, Apple continues to uphold Steve Jobs' original vision of using nothing but your finger to access your phone and tablet. The Apple Pencil, after all, is an optional, add-on accessory, and will be sold separately from the iPad Pro. But perhaps, Jobs didn't imagine that the iPhone 1 will pave the way for tablets being a viable tool for illustrators; and the company he started continues to keep up with today's needs and trends.
As to whether the Apple Pencil can prove Jobs wrong, we will have to wait and see when the product comes out in stores this November.
