Hi, Mark Hamblin here – founder of Touch Revolution.  For this first blog post, let me give you a quick introduction to the company and what we’re about.

We at Touch Revolution see the recent growth in popularity of touch devices as the beginning of a fundamental change in the way people interact with devices, appliances, and technology in general.  The types of touch interfaces that started with mobile phones will become the standard for electronics devices of all sorts – in the home, at the office, in the car – virtually anywhere people directly interact with technology.  These devices will have a variety of capabilities, features, and form factors – WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometers, haptic feedback, small screens, large screens, integrated, stand-alone, portable, … the list goes on.  But there will be one common thread: natural touch-screen user interfaces that provide an intuitive touch experience and make them nimble devices with the ability to change function with the touch of a finger.

We call them NIMble^TM Devices (NIM = Natural Interface Module) because the hardware input features no longer limit the applications that can run on the device – just change the application software and the device can have new features, deliver new services, or completely change its function.  Virtually any device can deliver the standard telephony, contacts, internet, calendar, text messaging, chatting, email, and media player, along with a limitless set of other applications for communication, education, entertainment, etc.

Computing and digital devices are becoming more and more pervasive and ubiquitous in our lives.  We carry little computers in our pockets (cell phones), we interact with a computer when checking in at the airport, we have devices in our cars to give us directions, and there are even little embedded computers that run most of our appliances at home.

But the adoption of these devices only goes as far as the devices are easy to use.  What’s the point of a computerized self-serve airport check-in system if nobody can figure it out?  What’s the point of an in-car GPS system if its more difficult to use than asking for directions at a gas station?  How do you make these growing number of embedded electronic devices intuitive and easy to use?  With great touch interfaces, of course.

We think Android is a game-changer in this changing market because it is a solid, open application framework built for touch, and built to enable connected services.  Android provides a common rallying point for hardware and application software development, providing the interoperability necessary to drive investment and innovation.  If you want to make intelligent and connected consumer electronics devices, we do not think you get there by taking a PC and downsizing it to a consumer electronics form factor.  We think you get there by taking a mobile phone with an open application framework built for touch, then scaling the technology to multiple CE form factors.

In order to make this future a reality today, Touch Revolution has created a platform based on Android that allows product and service vendors deliver customized touch devices or embedded touch interface modules quickly and cost effectively, integrating the best touch screens with the most flexible touch application framework while allowing complete control over the applications and services available on the device.

I look forward to making touch the common device interface in the future, and am excited to see some of the innovations that develop around Android. Let the Touch Revolution begin….