If you work in ICT or even read technology or business papers you must have noticed that the world has gone touch screen crazy. iPhone is, of course, the reason for this. I think iPhone is great, it's beautiful, easy to use and feels nice on your hand. I have no critisism for the iPhone, on the contrary. I will get a personal one when they eventually come to Finland.  What I do critisize, however, is how can the entrire ICT and gadget industry sink into this religion-like worshipping of just one type of user interface.

Touch screen is at its best when you use an application where you need to read and scroll, for example browsing or reading documents. It is not at its best when all you need to do is make a phone call, check your calendar on the go or activate maps when driving, for example. It is also not very good if you happen to have poor eyesight.

I would like to see the industry take a more serious look at voice-control and audio applicatoins as a whole. I can instantly name a dozen use cases where you cannot use your hands, or cannot read text (driving, cycling, walking, running, cooking, bathing, showering, repairing car, just falling asleep, just waking up, you forgot your glasses, you cannot read, your phone is set in the wrong language etc.)

One of my favorite research topics at NRC is Virpi, your virtual personal assistant (previously named Simone). It is a speech recognition and voice control application that lets you control your phone applications with your natural language. NRC is developing that with collaboration with MIT. The demos are pretty amazing. You can for example search for appointment in your calendar, set a reminder in your mom's calendar and simply ask Virpi to make a phone call for you. With the loudspeaker on, you don't have to touch the phone with your hands at all.