The makers of ViviTouch want to bring tactile feedback to your iPhone and iPod touch, technology that will offer the sensation of something touching back when you tap your touchscreen.
Artificial Muscle boasts that its ViviTouch tech, an add-on for the iPhone platform, will let users "feel the difference between hundreds of sensations, not just the one-buzz-fits-all vibration from before." It does so in the form of the mophie pulse, a piece of hardware that attaches to the iPhone that adds "pulse-pounding stereo sound and bone-shaking game feedback." (Ouch.)
The company makes other mophie products, primarily battery life extending cases for iOS devices.
"A rolling pinball will feel different than a revving motor, a big explosion or even a sharp blade slicing through fruit," the company promises for the tech that's still "coming soon." If it works, that could address some concerns about touchscreen-based gaming, which offers none of the tactile feedback of traditional controllers.
More details (specifically on gaming applications) on the official ViviTouch web site, which is just a touch hyperbolic, but potentially interesting nonetheless.