Welcome back to Input Origins - and guess what? We just wrapped up our first full year of time-traveling through the history of how humans interact with their machines. From the first Joystick to the first brain-computer interface, we’ve explored the milestones that redefined interaction.
And this month? We visit the invention that killed the buttons, that fused display and input into one seamless surface, and, against all odds, despite countless skeptics calling it a passing fad - became perhaps the most widely used input method on the planet.
1965 UK: The word's first Touchscreen, invented by Eric Johnson.
1965 - The First Touchscreen!
Until the touchscreens showed up, input was always mediated: a keyboard, a joystick, a mouse. The touchscreen removed the middleman. Seems like a natural progression, right? Well, it wasn’t.
So how did it all start? The first known version showed up in 1962, when AT&T’s Leon Harmon built a stylus-based optical grid that sensed where a pen broke beams of light, effectively letting users write directly on a screen. (We covered that one back in Input Origins #2).
But the real breakthrough came just three years later. In 1965, engineer E.A. Johnson at the Royal Radar Establishment in the UK invented the world’s first finger-driven capacitive touchscreen. Built for air traffic control, it let operators interact directly with radar data using only their fingers. Johnson’s design detected tiny changes in capacitance across a transparent surface, making it the first interface of its kind to respond to human touch alone.
Hewlett-Packard's HP150, Released in 1983
1983 - Too Early For Consumers
In 1983, HP released the HP-150, a PC with built-in infrared touch sensing. It let users tap menus and select options directly on the screen, a genuine first for consumer tech. But the tech was finicky, the software limited, and the concept just didn’t click with the public. Most people still preferred their trusty keyboard.
Later attempts, like IBM’s Simon phone in 1993 brought touch to handheld devices, but even then, it remained a niche feature rather than a revolution.
Steve Jobs unveils multi-touch on the first iPhone at Macworld 2007
2007 - How Touchscreens Sparked the Mobile Revolution
Fun fact: the LG Prada beat the iPhone to market with the first capacitive touchscreen phone. But it was Apple’s iPhone, powered by multi-touch tech from a company called FingerWorks that made the concept click. At launch, many doubted it. “We predict the iPhone will bomb,” declared TechCrunch. No buttons? No keyboard? Madness. But Apple’s design showed everyone that touching the screen was THE interface.
That input shift brought the entire mobile era forth, social media, countless apps, news on the go, video calls, live maps, you name it. Suddenly, the computer moved from your desk to your pocket. Entire industries were born from that revolution, and none of it could’ve happened without the touchscreen.
2026 - When There’s Nothing Left to Touch
The next computer won’t live in your pocket; it’ll hover in front of your eyes. And then there’s the paradox: if the display lives on your glasses, how do you touch it? There’s nothing left to touch.
What if you could still use your hands? Neural wristbands make that possible. By reading the tiny electrical signals that travel from your brain to your fingers, they interpret intention itself. You can rest your hand at your side, even keep it in your pocket, and still control your digital world. No line of sight or lighting needed. Touchscreens fused display and input into one seamless surface; neural bands fuse thought and action. The next interface won’t sit on a desk or a screen. It’ll live on your wrist, waiting to translate what you mean to do with your hands.
