Editing Pointing stick (section)

== History ==

In 1984, [[Ted Selker]], a researcher at [[PARC (company)|PARC]], worked on a pointing stick based on a study{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} showing that it takes a typist 0.75 seconds to shift from the keyboard to the mouse, and comparable time to shift back. Selker built a model of a device that would minimize this time. It was only three years later, working at IBM, that Selker refined his design, resulting in the TrackPoint product<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petergolden.com/Articles/ThinkPad-1(EB-PAG).htm |title=The development of the IBM ThinkPad, Part I: big BLUE'S big ADVENTURE |last=Golden |first=Peter |access-date=2012-12-03 |archive-date=2013-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513125158/http://www.petergolden.com/Articles/ThinkPad-1(EB-PAG).htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> for which IBM received US [[patent]]s in 1996<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=5521596 |title=Analog input device located in the primary typing area of a keyboard |fdate=1992-05-29 |gdate=1996-05-28 |invent1=Edwin J. Selker |invent2=Joseph D. Rutledge}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=5489900 |title=Force sensitive transducer for use in a computer keyboard |fdate=1994-06-03 |gdate=1996-02-06 |invent1=Matthew F. Cali |invent2=Jerome J. Cuomo |invent3=Donald J. Mikalsen |invent4=Joseph D. Rutledge, Edwin J. Selker}}</ref> and 2000.<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number= US6115030 |title= Trackpoint device |fdate=1997-12-18 |gdate=2000-09-05 |invent1=Viktors Berstis |invent2=Thomas Guthrie Zimmerman}}</ref>

Pointing sticks were the dominant pointing device for laptops before the advent of the [[touchpad]]. During later years, they faced a decline in popularity as most laptop-producing brands switched to touchpads, although as of 2021, some manufacturers like [[Lenovo]] still produce laptops with pointing sticks.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/why-the-thinkpad-trackpoint-still-a-thing-according-to-lenovos-chief-designer |title=Why the ThinkPad TrackPoint is still a thing, according to Lenovo's chief designer |last=Osborne |first=Joe |date=2017-06-21 |work=TechRader |publisher=Future Publishing |access-date=2018-08-13}}</ref>