Digital Meld

It seems that Microsoft is feeling the heat from competitors in the “touch” market, such as the iTable we mentioned a few days ago. It was announced today that Microsoft has invested $24 million in N-trig, an Israeli start-up that makes touch-sensing screen hardware (full WSJ article hear courtesy of Comcrap Comcast). Microsoft is seeking N-trig’s support in making their touch technology work with Windows 7 as quickly as possible as the boys in Redmond are betting a lot on the fact that everyday users will eventually want to control their PCs with touch interfaces.

Microsoft is well aware that that touch interfaces won’t mean the death of the mouse and keyboard, it will simply enhanced the user’s experience with certain applications. They’ve sunk millions into Surface computing to this point and adding another round of funding for more touch technology shows that Microsoft is dedicated to the product. With touch devices like the HP TouchSmart line of computers exceeding sales expectations you can bet that more devices will be hitting markets soon rather than later.

From CrunchGear/TechCrunch.