Apple has spent years working on a type of product that Steve Jobs famously hated - Business Insider

REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Apple has been granted a patent application for a stylus, a sign the company may be working on an electronic pen that will be released as an optional add-on.

The patent application, filed in 2011, is for an "active" stylus that includes electronic components that can interact with touch-screen devices.

Apple's patent says the type of sensor it is developing "can significantly improve stylus sensing" "without incurring significant additional cost."

Here is a diagram:

Apple An illustration from Apple's latest patent.

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was known to have hated the idea of using a stylus. He joked about their clumsiness in a conference talk in 2007, saying: "Who wants a stylus?! You have to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em, yuck. Nobody wants a stylus." And he also told biographer Walter Isaacson, "As soon as you have a stylus, you're dead."

Not all of the patents Apple files make their way into finished products. Some are preemptive or designed to ensnare competitors in distracting litigation. But there have been several signs Apple is working on creating its own stylus. As well as the patent mentioned above, Apple filed another application in December for stylus technology.

USPTO

It looks as if Apple has been considering a stylus for some time. The patent published Thursday is dated 2011, and the patent published in December was from 2013. If Apple is working on a new stylus, it has been doing so for years.

More evidence: Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has links to the company's supply chain, says Apple will launch a stylus accessory in the second quarter of 2015. He doesn't think the stylus will come bundled with a phone (as with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4); instead, it will be an accessory for a larger iPad.

"Given that it's more precise than a person's fingers, a stylus can be more convenient to use than the combination of keyboard and mouse in some cases," Kuo says.

This, however, wouldn't be the first time Apple has sold a stylus. The company used to include a stylus with the Apple Newton, a personal digital assistant that was launched during Jobs' time away from Apple. It didn't sell well, and it was discontinued in 1998.

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