TapSpot’s place in the mobile tech stack
The text-entry utility has (up to now) been provided at the operating system (OS) layer.
In other words, Apple and Google have architected the mobile stack so developers can build apps that benefit from the mobile platform. They provided the operating system that makes that platform available. Brands (and others) can develop apps (and mobile websites) that benefit from the access to mobile users that com through their platforms. Users benefit from the utility of these apps.
The graphic below shows how a single device keyboard provides text entry utility across all the apps on a device.
A touchscreen phone, but no apps
Clearly, context would make error correction and auto-complete work better for the device keyboard. The lexicon used for fashion, groceries and home furnishing are almost entirely exclusive, especially when you include industry jargon and brand names.
The device keyboard lacks that context. If the keyboard utility was provided at the app-level, rather than OS-level, it would have it. The reason it doesn’t is a legacy decision.
The first touchscreen phone, the original iPhone, was introduced 13 months before the Apple App Store. There were no apps, but a keyboard was needed for messaging and other text entry tasks. So Apple, and later Google, had to provide it.
It has stayed that way ever since.
Non-context text-entry sucks
Does this really need to even be said?
Anyone who has used a mobile phone knows it. The iOS and Android keyboard are DEAF to context. For example:
‘banana’ becomes ‘rocket’
‘guitar’ becomes ‘pillow’
‘ocean’ becomes ‘wallet’
These words aren’t even remotely related. Any human would know it. It’s so frustrating!
The pivot
It doesn’t need to continue this way.
TapSpot introduces two changes to the mobile tech stack. The first is the ergonomic improvement brought by the TapSpot interface.
The second is that TapSpot is implemented at the app-level, not OS-level. In other words, the developers of apps and websites are the bearers of the tech. Like screen-readers for the blind, or captions for the deaf, TapSpot is implemented by the brands that develop the content. It’s not provided by Apple or Google.
With this pivot, TapSpot brings along app-level, contextual dictionaries. These enable fully contextualized error correction, auto-complete, and query suggestions. In particular, industry jargon and brand names relevant to each app become favored.
The graphic below shows text entry utility implemented at the app-level. Typing input from the OS is no longer needed for search.
TapSpot is implemented by developers, not the mobile platform (iOS or Android).
It is adopted by brands, firms, shops — whoever is developing the app or site. TapSpot helps these brands deliver an integrated text-entry/search experience that customers love — and will grow to expect across all their apps. This tight integration delivers an experience that can’t be matched by a generic, no-context keyboard.