FingerWorks

Westerman was working on a dissertation on chord-based manipulation with a multi-touch surface while a doctoral student at the University of Delaware. He and Elias, a professor in his department, started FingerWorks while he was finishing his dissertation, which formed the basis for some of the company's products. Westerman developed repetitive stress problems while finishing his dissertation, which inspired active focus on low-impact inputs.Wayne Westerman, 1999. [http://www.ece.udel.edu/~westerma/main.pdf Hand Tracking, Finger Identification, and Chordic Manipulation on a Multi-Touch Surface] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220070215/http://www.ece.udel.edu/~westerma/main.pdf |date=February 20, 2009 }}

File:Fingerworks Touchstream keyboard.jpg

The company's products remained a high-end niche, and something of a curiosity, despite good press and industry awards.The New York Times, January 2002 : [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE4DE113BF937A15752C0A9649C8B63 No Press, No Stress: When Fingers Fly]

The 2005 included the WinPad, a new FingerWorks design that never made it into production In early 2005, FingerWorks went through a rocky period, and stopped shipping new products or responding actively to support requests. While they updated their support forums between April and June with new information, outside reports indicated that they had been acquired by a major technology company.[http://fingerfans.dreamhosters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9 In April 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805222811/http://fingerfans.dreamhosters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9 |date=August 5, 2009 }}, former FingerWorks CEO Jeffrey White was described as follows: "Jeffrey White was most recently the CEO and Chairman of FingerWorks, Inc. a privately held producer of Computer Software and Hardware targeted at the input systems market. In this capacity, he successfully transformed a fledgling startup into a leading edge provider of input technologies, which was ultimately acquired by a multi-billion dollar supplier of IT software and hardware for a price equal to 25 times revenue." [https://archive.today/20120903223918/http://www.mutualfunddashboard.com/about.aspx from Coates Analytics] This company turned out to be Apple, which acquired the company's patents and other intellectual property along with Elias and Westerman. The technology was used to create the Apple iPhone which launched in 2007.{{cite book|first=Brian|last=Merchant|title=The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVk_DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT102|date=22 June 2017|publisher=Transworld|isbn=978-1-4735-4254-9|pages=102–112}}

In June 2005, FingerWorks officially announced they were no longer in business.March 10, 2006. [http://www.macrumors.com/2006/03/10/apple-refining-the-touch-screen-interface-evidence-for-a-tablet-mac/ Mac Rumors] notes the company's closing the year before. The founders continued to file and process patents for their work through late 2007.[http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=Fingerworks&FIELD1=AS&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PG01 Patent list] for Fingerworks, 2006-2007 As of August 2008 they still filed patents for Apple, Inc.[http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/04/beyond-multi-touch-voice-gaze-facial-expression-recognition/ Beyond Multi-Touch: Voice, Gaze, Facial Expression Recognition]

• TouchStream LP – a full-sized, folding split keyboard, with a flat membrane and zero-force keys. The entire keyboard surface has multitouch support that converts finger movements of different combinations of fingers into mouse and macro events. It comes with chording modes for graphics, Emacs, and gaming.
• :Surface inclination: 0-10 degrees; Adjustable split angle & separation
• :Active area: {{convert|5|by|13|in|cm|abbr=on}} Weight: {{convert|13|oz|g|abbr=on}}

File:Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard.jpg

• TouchStream Mini – a one-hand keyboard + mouse keypad, with 15mm keys (75% normal size). Active area: {{convert|5|by|6.5|in|cm|abbr=on}}
• MacNTouch – a double-width multitouch surface originally made to physically replace the keyboard in compatible Apple laptops. Also appeared in an enclosure to be used as a separate device, under the name Digitouch.
• iGesture Pad – a one-hand gesture pad for mousing and gestures. Active area: {{convert|6.25|by|5|in|cm|abbr=on}}
• iGesture NumPad – like the iGesture Pad but with numeric keypad, PgUp/Dn etc., and arrow keys superimposed.
• iGesture Retro{{Cite web |url=http://www.fingerworks.com/retro_product.html |title=From the Fingerworks site |access-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325023503/http://www.fingerworks.com/retro_product.html |url-status=dead }} – a one-hand gesture pad embedded into a full-size Microsoft keyboard

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• {{web archive|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040403174353/http://www.fingerworks.com/|title=Official website}}

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Category:1998 establishments in Delaware

Category:2005 disestablishments in Delaware

Category:2005 mergers and acquisitions

Category:American companies established in 1998

Category:American companies disestablished in 2005

Category:Apple Inc. acquisitions

Category:Companies based in New Jersey

Category:Computer companies established in 1998

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 2005

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States

Category:Defunct computer hardware companies

Category:Defunct software companies of the United States

Category:Gesture recognition