E.A. Johnson first described capacitive touch screens in the 1960s, while resistive touch screens were developed in the 1980s. Capacitive touch screens use changes in capacitance to detect touch, while resistive touch screens have two layers that touch to close a circuit. Infrared touch screens were also developed using arrays of infrared LEDs and photodetectors to detect touch disruptions. Different types of touch screens have advantages like durability, multi-touch capability, or lower price that make them suitable for different applications. As mobile device usage increases, digital touchscreen usage is also growing for in-store shopping and other commercial applications.

1. 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
E.A. Johnson described his
work on capacitive touch
screens in a short article
Bent Stumpe with the aid of
Frank Beck developed a
transparent touch screen and
it was manufactured by CERN
and put to use
A resistive touch
screen was
developed by
American inventor
G. Samuel Hurst
Plato V
Fairlight CMI
the first graphical point of
sale software was
demonstrated on the 16-bit
Atari 520ST color computer
Sears, Pleasant
& Shneideman
first describes
multi touch
features
PalmPilot
Nintendo DS
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen

2. A resistive touch screen has two layers with a gap
in between. One layer has conductive connections
along its sides, the other along top and bottom. A
voltage is applied to one layer, and sensed by the
other. When an object, such as a fingertip or stylus
tip, presses down onto outer surface, the two
layers touch to become connected at that point
Resistive
A capacitive touch screen consists of an insulator
such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor.
As the human body is also an electrical
conductor, touching the surface of the screen
results in a distortion of the screen’s electrostatic
field measurable as a change in capacitance.
Capacitive
An infrared touchscreen uses an array of X-Y
infrared LED and photo detector pairs around the
edges of the screen to detect a disruption in the
pattern of LED beams. These LED beams cross
each other in vertical and horizontal patterns. This
helps the sensors pick up the exact location of the
touch
Infrared
PalmPilot
iPhone
PixelSense
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen

3. Visual
impression
Durability Use of
stylus
Multitouch Sensitivity
to dirt
Price
-
+
+
+
+ +
+
+ +
-
-
-
-
-
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen

4. Do you need to
use your device
primarily outside
Will there
be a lot of
dirt?
Should the device
impress
customers?
Does it need to
be durable?
Is price
important?
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No

5. 54% use or would like
to use digital
touchscreens in-store.
Source:http://www.digby.com/mobile-statistics/
48% use or would like
to use a smartphone to
shop while in-store or
on the go
4 out of 5
consumers use
smartphones to
shop
The smartphone market is
now larger than the PC
market
4 out of 5
consumers use
smartphones to
shop
1.08 billion
smartphones
are in use