In late 2010 we posted a report titled "A New Patent Reveals Scrollable Menus & Toolbars for OS X Lion," which revealed Apple's initial work on bringing Radial Menus to the iMac. Apple was later granted a radial menu patent in August 2012. Earlier in June 2012, another radial based menu patent filing popped up in Korea of all places illustrating that this method could eventually be coming to iOS. Yesterday at CES, Lenovo introduces the IdeaCentre Horizon portable desktop with radial menus that looked cooler than most expected. The Verge posted a few great photos of Lenovo's radial menu that are worth checking out in today's report.
Below is a nice close-up of Lenovo's Radial Menu that they're marketing as the "Moon Dial." It appears to be a great way to access menu features or access apps quickly while working on a large 20 or 27" Multitouch display. Lenovo's desktop display is able to tilt back to a comfortable angle to work with a multitouch display or all the way back so that it sits flat on a table enabling users to play electronic games like Monopoly.
Lenovo's patent on the tiltable desktop display was covered in Patent Bolt's December report titled "Trend 2013: Desktop Computers with Tiltable Touch Displays," well ahead of this week's announcements at CES.
On another note, it should be said that Apple was 30 months ahead of Lenovo on this front with their iMac Touch patent, but unfortunately it's still collecting dust in Tim Cook's attic. This seems to be an ongoing trend at Apple of late. Apple invents something cool with promise and the competition just grabs it and brings it to market faster. It's really a shame but it's just the way it is with Apple. Will we be seeing Apple step up to the plate anytime soon on this front? Time will tell, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
Photos from The Verge Article found here.
