Kiwi Firm to Transform Global Touch Technology

Sunday Star-Times
23 March 2003 

A unique piece of homemade technology has put a small New Zealand company at the forefront of the global interactive touch screen market.

Former DSIR scientist John Newton has patented what he believes is the cheapest big screen touch technology in the world.

His company NextWindow recently built a 170cm interactive screen for Philips. The next step is to break into the multi-billion-dollar international market.

To do that the company would need to miniaturise the technology to make it usable in smaller computing devices, like phones and handheld computers, said chief executive Al Monro. "We can make the most effective big screens but we don’t want to rest on that," he said.

The technology, called Through Glass Touch Screen, is for use in the interactive display market. It is unique in that it is the only known touch technology, that allows the owner to touch-enable the interactive screen as well as the area around it through a window, providing touch sensitivity to the entire surface.

Most standard touch screen devices use "resistant" technology, which senses the pressure of fingers. This has the disadvantage of less screen clarity than a standard LCD screen. The technique also has high costs when large screens are needed. The NextWindow method uses small optical sensors at the edges of the screen to locate the position of the finger.

Back in 2000, a friend with a real estate business asked Newton to help to build a website.

He decided an interactive terminal would attract more attention than a website and set about building one, working part time in his garage.

The result was a low-cost screen that attracted the attention of a group of angel investors.
With financial backing in place NextWindow was formed and Monro - formerly national sales manager for IBM - came on board.

The first prototype was completed by May 2002 and since then the company has been expanding its production capability.

NextWindow produced about 80 screens in the last quarter. A standard screen would sell for about $6000, Monro said.

The aim was for NextWindow components to be used by the big electronics corporations in the mass production of touch screens. The touch screen market makes up 5% of the $24b global electronic screen market, but is predicted to be closer to 10% by 2006.

Despite it being a back-yard invention, Newton is no "number eight wire" inventor.

He worked as a scientist specialising in underwater acoustics and remote sensing for the government’s Crown Research Agency. He has also worked as a product designer for a number of US and New Zealand-based manufacturing companies specialising in wireless and micro-current analogue electronic technologies.

His expertise has led to international work for Aerospatial GDI in France and US-based Cubic Defence Systems.
- Liam Dann