TechPulse 360

Stantum's technology takes multi-touch to a whole new level

The multi-touch industry is pretty much divided into 2 camps: the capacitive and resistive touchscreens.

The capacitive touchscreen is the most widely used technology, but also the more expensive. It’s in the iPhone and all the current multi-touch solutions in the market such as the H-P TouchSmart or the latest Dell Lattitude XT2 tablet.

However, the former technology was supposed to be impossible to do. So far, resistive touchscreens were mainly used in conjunction with a stylus or for “single-touch” manipulations.

Stantum targets mobile devices with unlimited multi-touch technology

That is, until a small group of French entrepreneurs from Bordeaux, decided in 2002 to develop their own multi-touch technology on resistive touchscreens for its Lemur music surface, launched in 2005.

“With our technology you can use as many fingers as you want, with gloves, with a stylus or a combination of all. Unlike the capacitive screens which can only be used with fingers,” explained Stantum co-founder Guillaume Largillier who was demoing the technology at the Interactive Demo Conference this week in San Jose, Calif.

The French startup raised $13 million last month to expand internationally, and plans to open shortly an office in Silicon Valley. Stantum is currently focused on delivering its technology – in partnership with chip makers – for handheld devices and up to 14-inch touchscreens. Larger screen will come probably next year.

Check out the video of the demo I’ve shot at the show. The accuracy – both in gestures and pressure – and responsiveness of the touchscreen prototypes were very impressive.