Survey Says iPhone Keyboard Presents Challenges for QWERTY Users

A study conducted by usability consultancy User Centric found that it took QWERTY keyboard users almost twice as long to create the same message on the iPhone.

"For QWERTY users, texting was fast and accurate," said User Centric’s Jen Allen. "But when they switched to the iPhone, they were frustrated with the touch-sensitive keyboard." Of the 20 participants, 10 had owned a phone with a QWERTY keyboard (Palm Treo, BlackBerry, Moto Q) and the remaining had owned a phone with a numeric keyboard. Skeptics have questioned whether the iPhone's touchscreen keyboard can rival that of other smartphones that offer more tactile QWERTY keyboards. In some instances this study affirms those assertions, but User Centric's study failed to consider the learning curve associated with the touchscreen based iPhone keyboard. Steve Jobs spoke about the keyboard back in June in response to concerns it wouldn't match up to QWERY based keyboards on competitive smartphones. "Like all small keyboards, it takes three or four days to get used to. iPhone users will quickly learn to trust its intelligence to correct their mistakes automatically. So far, everyone who has used it loves it and reports that they are typing as fast or faster than they did on their Treo or BlackBerry or other smart phone. … We think the iPhone’s keyboard is one of its greatest assets and competitive advantages."

While this is an interesting study, it begs for a follow-up study to see how this group is faring having spent sufficient time to learn the touch screen keyboard of the iPhone.

Source: Digital Daily

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