One of the largest obstacles for new adopters of the iPhone was learning to type on a virtual keyboard with no haptic feedback.  Other devices, such as the Blackberry Storm, have tried to use ways to mimic a physical keyboard, but all have yet to succeed.  Cliff Kushler, the inventor behind the T9 input method, believes he has found the answer to fast and accurate text entry on touch-screen devices.

He believes that instead of mimicking a physical keyboard, a new method of entry should be used; one that will take advantage of the touch-screen.  He calls this latest technology "Swype.”  The idea is for users to trace a route over the on screen keyboard for the word they would like to type.  Starting with their finger or stylus on the first letter and following a path that will intersect each letter in the word.  The word is complete once the finger or stylus is removed from the screen.  Similar to T9, predictive text recognition is used to assist in the accuracy of the input.  The software has been measured by Swype Inc. to enable entry at up to 50 words per minute.

This technology isn't the most original method of input but it has been patented and can be used on all touch-screen based devices with or without a stylus. Shapewriter for the iPhone is an application that has a similar function but is not implemented system wide.  The original Palm OS also tried to something similar with their handwriting recognition but that operated at a character by character basis.

Users can calibrate the software in many ways for customization and input styles. Configurations allow for faster text generation with more precise input or slower text generation for a more forgiving experience.  Swype Inc. is already taking orders for the software and are hoping for a repeat of the success T9 has achieved.