Apple is certainly touch crazy at the moment, with the Magic Trackpad, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It?s seems a logical progression to bring out a desktop with touch functionality.
patentlyapple.com has come across a European patent that shows a machine in the form of an iMac, but with an adjustable stand and what looks like a touch capable screen. There also seems to be something called an accelerometer, that may be used make the interface touch based with the look of iOS.
Nick Bilton, blogger at the new York Times, raised eye brows earlier in the year when he wrote about being told by engineers from Apple that they were working on a touch screen interface like iOS but for a desktop. iOS is not going to overtake Mac OS X, but be a layer on top of it.
You will be able to switch between touch screen functionality and the regular use of keyboard and mouse as suited to the applications you are using. So iOS will be enhancing OS X not replacing. The patent also describes how a MacBook could be transformed into a tablet, again switching between the two modes.
