According to a patent application made public by the USPTO this morning
(and originally filed a year ago), Apple believes it's possible to
build a flexible display into an iPad
cover in order to "greatly enhance" the functionality of the tablet
itself. Taking power and data from a dedicated connector on the side of
the slate, at least one segment of the name-deserving Smart Cover
could be used to augment the main display with space for extra icons,
or operate as a separate media control interface, or simply display
notifications. Drawings collected in the gallery below also hint at
using the entire inner surface of the cover as a keyboard (ala Microsoft Surface)
or as a drawing area. As with all patent applications, there's nothing
to say such an idea will ever see Californian sunlight, but it'd be
crying shame if it didn't.
Apple Smart Cover display patent application
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