The latest news straight from Cupertino is that Apple has recently submitted a new patent for a new flat keyless keyboard concept within their Mac laptop and desktop range, which could change the way we use computers forever, well at least the Mac ones for now.

This idea has clearly  developed from iOS as did launchpad that was released with the new OS X recently, as I am already fond of the iOS keyboard especially on the iPad I think this could work well with the Mac, but I wonder if some other people will disagree.

The patent states that the new keyboard will be constructed from a mixture of metal, plastic and glass, also using some technology I don’t even understand which are piezoelectrics, haptic feedback and acoustic pulse recognition.

So by the sound of it this is going to be a lot like a touchpad, but you can type with it. The keyboard will of course feature an LED-lit display for those who type in the dark, and will also include capacitive sensors to use OS X Loins new multi-touch functionality.

What I wonder is how far this will go, will we be given the option to have this or a normal keyboard, or will Apple just force it on us, also it gets me thinking how long will it be till the typing and mouse area of a laptop just becomes on big touchscreen much like the Toshiba Libretto.

What do you think about this? Is it just another thing to learn? Do you think you could use it?

Via [Patently Apple]