As an iPhone developer, I am giddy with anticipation over tomorrow’s supposed unveiling of Apple’s upcoming tablet. Specifically, my interest in multiplayer gaming as it relates to the iPhone and iPod Touch, and now iPad (if that’s what the tablet is to be called), has peaked recently as I begin development of a couple of new mobile games of my own.

Yesterday a number of friends forwarded me a New York Times article entitled A Playland for Apps in a Tablet World. I actually didn’t make it through the entire article because I stopped dead in my tracks by the fourth paragraph which reads:

But the larger screen — most likely 10 inches diagonally — and other features of the tablet could inspire developers to create new twists on apps, like games that two or more people can easily play at once on the same device.

The concept of a device large enough for two people to play simultaneously is not news in its own right, or cause for mass hysteria. Yes, a 10” tablet would definitely be large enough to support a multitude of simultaneous finger/toe touches. The same article quotes Smule co-founder, Ge Wang, as saying:

“On the iPhone, there are five touch points max,” Mr. Wang said. “You don’t need much more than that because that’s about all you can fit on that screen.”

A tablet with a bigger and better multitouch screen, he said, “could mean entirely new user interfaces, screen layouts, instruments, contraptions and games.”

But how the tablet would distinguish one player’s touch from another player’s, that’s what’s got my mind twerking. Will the tablet be sophisticated enough to differentiate one player’s fingerprints from the other player’s?

Surprisingly, this concept may not be that far fetched. Let’s look at the facts.

Apple filed a patent as early as June 2004 that involved “many tiny image sensors wedged between LCD cells, and software to stitch together all of the smaller pieces.” Later, in July 2007, a new filing detailed plans for a camera mounted behind a display that could capture an image “while the display elements are in an inactive state (in which the display elements are darkened and at least partially transparent).”

At that time, technologies like these was envisioned to be used on desktop or laptop displays, but why couldn’t a technique like this be used on a touch screen? And could the camera images be detailed enough for the computer to decipher fingerprints?

While digging further for information to support fingerprint-awareness, I found this article which brings the idea well into the realm of plausibility. In July 2009, Macrumors, along with a number of other news sites, published the findings of another Apple patent entitled Fingerprint Identification as an Input Method. The patent involves the use of fingerprint patterns to actually identify distinct fingers and suggests that the technique could be used to produce specific functions depending on which finger is being used. For instance, an index finger press might perform one action (PLAY/STOP) while a middle finger press could fast forward. If this patented technique is sophisticated enough to distinguish an individual’s index finger from their middle finger, surely it could be used to distinguish two (or more) completely separate sets of fingerprints?

And honestly, how else can “games that two or more people can easily play at once on the same device” be possible without fingerprint recognition?

There’s no indication that any of these patented technologies are accessible enough to include in affordable consumer devices, but we can dream can’t we? Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying the tablet “will be the most important thing [he's] ever done.” Based on that, I’m expecting a lot of surprises. What do you all think?

— Ryan