Patent: Apple toying with projectors in their portable lineup

We’ve been holding off on a lot of patent related posts lately because, well, simply put, they’re a lot of hubbub over nothing. However, one today caught my attention, so I thought I would pass it along anyway.

According to Patently Apple, The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application that shows that Apple’s been toying with the idea of putting projectors directly into the iPhone and iPad, as well as creating an external peripheral for the MacBook lineup.

It’s a pretty neat idea, and it’s one that’s been around for a while: back in 2009 LG showed off a Phone-Projector hybrid at CES. The fact that the idea was already being tossed around back then and that we haven’t really seen them catch on by now is probably a commentary on the demand for the product.

There’s no denying that the suits, and small business owners, could get some milage out of phones with projectors, but for the most part I don’t really see many people actually taking full advantage of the projector.

It’s a neat idea, but probably an unlikely one — for now.

Note: Patents rarely get turned into consumer products, so don’t expect to see this come true at any point in the future.

Source: Patently Apple