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→Primary Research
===Primary Research===
From our primary research data, over 80% of respondents indicated that they interact with a touch screen enabled device on a daily basis. This is mostly due to the rise in popularity of smart phones such as the Apple iPhone and the Android. The effectiveness of typing on a touch screen device was given a choice between 1 to 10, 1 being the least effective and 10 being the most effective. The feedbacks from respondents range from 4 to 9 with a mean of 7.6. Everyone that participated in the survey replied that their primary focus is on the virtual keyboard while typing on a touch screen device. The learning curve required to adopt to touch screen typing has been giving a range of 2-3 with a mean of 2.2. The lower the learning curve, the easier it was for the respondent to adopt to touch typing. Except for one person, everyone says that they would prefer a physical keyboard over a virtual one.
The effectiveness of typing on a virtual keyboard was given a higher than average score because the population that was sampled were tech savvy students. They are around a computer on a regular basis and are proficient with a physical keyboard. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that their typing skills would translate well onto a virtual keyboard and would also justify a lower than average learning curve for most users. All respondents said that the primary focus of typing on a virtual keyboard is on the keyboard itself and not on the text area. Reasons given include keys being too small, no other way to know what was typed without looking at the keyboard and thumbs not suitable for touch screen typing. When Apple first introduced the iPad tablet, it presented virtual keyboard typing as one of its primary features. It allowed users to treat the touch screen as a fully functional keyboard that was not possible with the smaller screens found on smart phones. However, after users have had experience with the iPad keyboard, they have found numerous issues. The iPad offers 2 keyboard sizes depending on the way the user is holding the device. While in portrait mode, the keyboard size was not suitable for a full 10 finger typing configuration and the keys itself were too small for a full finger press. While in landscape mode, the keyboard is approximately the same size as a netbook and is suitable for 10 finger typing. However, most users have found it difficult to use due to the error rate they were getting. In addition, Apple tried to address the error rate issue by enlarging the key that was pressed by the user. However, using a 10 finger typing motion, the finger of the user would make the enlarged key hardly noticeable. Most users have found that it was difficult to type on the iPad with 10 fingers because of the non elevated surface and most prefer to hold the iPad with one hand while typing with the other. Conversely, this greatly decreases the efficiently in typing speed. In response to this, Apple released a new layout for landscape oriented keyboards. The keyboard is now split into two and off to the sides. This would allow user to hold the iPad while typing with their thumbs. This has been met with positive response because it greatly reduced the error rate and allowed users to focus more on the text area rather than the virtual keyboard.
===Conclusion===