Geek Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/spaces-ios-ipad.gif" alt="spaces-ios-ipad" title="spaces-ios-ipad" width="620" height="409" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14426" /></p> <p>The future of iOS is quietly shaping up behind the scenes at Apple, and we’ll probably get a good look at iOS 5 during <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/28/wwdc-2011-date-june-6/">WWDC 2011</a>, but until then it’s mostly a guessing game. That is, until someone digs up some patents that show potential features in a currently unreleased product. Case in point, PatentlyApple has discovered a patent that describes Spaces (virtual desktops) in use on a “Multifunction Device” that looks a lot like an iPad. </p> <p><strong>iPad… or Touchscreen Mac?</strong> While the patent drawing does look like an iPad, I think it’s just as possible that the multifunction device could be any touchscreen display, even for a currently unreleased touchscreen Mac. I say this because the behavior described in the patent is similar to how Spaces works in <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/mac-os-x-10-7/">Mac OS X 10.7 Lion</a>, where you sweep between Spaces by using the trackpad. It’s also reminiscent to the multitouch gestures you can enable for iPad by using developer tools with iOS 4.3. Those gesture similarities could even hint at further merging and sharing of features between future versions of <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/ios/">iOS</a> and <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">Mac OS X</a>. </p> <p>Last year, multiple patents showed up for things like a <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/01/macbook-tablet-patent/">MacBook tablet</a>, <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/21/macbook-touch-screen/">MacBook Touch</a>, and even an <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/23/imac-touch-runs-mac-ios/">iMac Touch</a> that runs both iOS and Mac OS X. </p> <p>You can see more details of the patent at <a href="http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/03/patent-shows-that-apple-is-bringing-spaces-to-the-ipad.html">PatentlyApple</a>. Remember, not all <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/apple-patent/">Apple patents</a> see the light of day as a feature or a product, but they can give us great insight into what Apple is working on.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/y8VjsaMLZuRdxwI5Cl8TA81nsEw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/y8VjsaMLZuRdxwI5Cl8TA81nsEw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/y8VjsaMLZuRdxwI5Cl8TA81nsEw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/y8VjsaMLZuRdxwI5Cl8TA81nsEw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hWbPW055L9U:qaDjqWE6PgM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/hWbPW055L9U" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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