Touching the Future.

Today's Marketing Cookie is a story of visionary persistence and how it shaped our everyday interactions.

Today, I want to tell you a story about vision, persistence, and the winding road of innovation. In 1965, Eric Johnson, working at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, England, had a brilliant idea. He envisioned a new way to interact with machines, something that could revolutionize the air traffic control industry and make complex tasks simpler and more intuitive.

Despite the potential of his invention, Eric faced significant challenges in convincing people to implement it. He tirelessly demonstrated his prototype, highlighting its intuitive interface and the efficiency it could bring. Johnson wrote detailed papers and made persuasive presentations, emphasizing how his invention could streamline operations and reduce errors. Yet, he encountered resistance from a conservative industry wary of change. Undeterred, Johnson continued to advocate for his vision, confident that one day the world would recognize the value of his innovative idea.

It wasn't until 1990 that British air traffic controllers began to implement the technology Eric had invented decades earlier. Soon the world caught up with Johnson’s vision, and exciting new products like the IBM Simon, Apple Newton, and Palm Pilot emerged. Suddenly, his invention was everywhere, from ATMs to smartphones and interactive kiosks, changing the way we live and work. It became integral to our daily interactions with technology, offering a seamless and intuitive experience that was once just a dream way back in 1965.

What was this groundbreaking invention? The touch screen. One man’s foresight and innovation, although shelved for years, finally took its rightful place at the center of modern human-computer interaction. So, next time you tap your phone or swipe your tablet, think about the visionary who saw the future with a touch of his finger. And now for all of us, it is true as today’s fortune says, “A thrilling new experience is at your fingertips.”