Apple is reportedly in talks with Immersion Corporation regarding a licensing agreement that would allow Apple to use haptic technology on the iPhone.

Haptic technology essentially simulates the sense of touch when using a device that only provides visual cues, rather than tactile sensations you'd receive from dialing a telephone. For a more in-depth definition, you can read "What is Haptics" on Immersion's website. This snippet details the overall goal of haptics and what it hopes to bring to mobile devices like the iPhone.

So why is it that when you sit down in front of a computer, cell phone, PDA, or any digital interface, you are presented solely with visual feedback, and maybe a little auditory feedback? Your primary sensory cortex, the part of your brain responsible for your wonderful, sophisticated sense of touch, may as well go into hibernation since information is presented almost exclusively in text, pictures, and color, but not in textures, shapes, and touch.

By adding back the tactile and kinesthetic cues you've come to expect in the real world, Immersion is transforming the computing world and human-machine interfaces everywhere with haptics. It's time to wake up your brain and rouse it from hibernation!

Palluxo spoke with an Apple employee who chose to remain anonymous, but said that senior executives from the two companies met last week to discuss licensing and implementation of Immersion's haptic technology on the iPhone.

Source: Palluxo