Bill Gates unveils interactive wallpaper

Predicts all walls will become touchscreens

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

16th May 2008 13:15 GMT

Wallpaper sales could soon begin sliding, because Bill Gates has forecast that touchscreens will feature on every vertical surface in every home in the future.

The Microsoft billionaire made the prediction as he unveiled Touch Wall – a vertical take on the infamous Surface touch-sensitive ‘table’.

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Touch Wall is essentially a 48in x 72in intelligent whiteboard with a camera beneath it to recognise a user’s finger movements. Users can access Windows applications through the digital drape.

Gates promised the device will be “easy to navigate”. It allows users to zoom in and move windows around in much the same way as Apple’s iPhone does. During the unveiling at the firm’s annual CEO Summit, Gates said: “When I say 'everywhere', I mean the individual's office, I mean the home, the living room, all of those things."

He stressed that the cost of the hardware isn’t that high - well not if your current account balance matches the GDP of Switzerland, perhaps - and that the quality of software is improving “substantially”.

Touch Wall is still at the development stage, but demo Surface units have already been rolled out into AT&T stores in the US.