In pictures: History of touch screen gadgets

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Page last updated at 09:46 GMT, Friday, 28 May 2010 10:46 UK

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1982: The BBC's Tomorrow's World programme featured an early touch screen computer. Model unknown.
1983: Hewlett-Packard's HP-150 was one of the first commercially available touch screen PCs. A grid of infrared beams across the front of the monitor detected finger movements. The IR sensors would often become clogged with dust and require cleaning.
1993: Long before the iPad, Apple led the way in handheld computing with its Newton PDA. Featuring handwriting recognition, it is widely regarded as having been ahead of its time. Used models still sell for a high price on internet auction sites.
1993: The first ever smartphone. IBM's Simon featured a calendar, note pad, and fax function. Users were able to input phone numbers using a touch screen interface.
1996: Palm dominated the touch screen PDA market for almost a decade with its Pilot series. The company moved into smartphones, ditching its own operating system in favour of Windows Mobile. Its latest handheld, the Palm Pre, uses the Linux-based WebOS.
2000: Microsoft founder Bill Gates saw the potential of handheld 'tablet' devices. The company launched Windows XP Tablet edition in 2002. Relatively few people bought tablet PCs, mainly because of the high price of the hardware.
2004: Touch screen smartphones grew in popularity during the 2000s. Nokia's Symbian handsets, Windows Mobile, and Sony Ericsson's UIQ phones all helped move the technology forward.
2007: Apple's iPhone shook-up the smartphone industry. The first model lacked many common features, including 3G and video recording. However its slick user interface and App Store left other manufacturers playing catch-up.
2008: More for commercial than home use. Microsoft's touch-controlled table computer costs £8,500. The system allows many users to interact at the same time. Microsoft introduced multi-touch for home PCs with the launch of Windows 7 in 2009.
2010: Critics described the iPad as 'just a big iPhone'. Many were disappointed by the lack of a camera and multi-tasking facility. In the US, the iPad sold 1 million units within a month of its launch.