iPhone MultiTouch Developers had same hardware failures as Apple

We're big fans of multi-touch interfaces and touchscreens in general here at MY iTablet, and you might recall some of the Onyx features our sister-site SlashGear ran back when the Synaptics concept was wowing iPhone-naive audiences.  Which makes it all the more disappointing to hear about those iPhone owners suffering dodgy, temperamental screens.  Now MarketWatch are reporting that the Finnish company Apple bought the international property rights for the MultiTouch Touchscreen technology from also experienced issues with patchy responsiveness and sensitivity loss within three to six months of use.

According to analyst Richard Windsor, the screens, which rather than recognising pressure as in traditional passive touchscreens instead respond to heat, use a chemical layer to track contact, and it's this layer that has been failing in a so-far small number of iPhones.  The original company who developed the technology were, apparently, looking to bring a similar concept of handset to market, but went bankrupt in the process.

Windsor maintains that Apple should be aware of, and have fixed, the problem, but the current crop of malfunctioning phones does not bode well.  Jobs & Co must be hoping that these are random, unconnected problems, and not a sign that their further touchscreen development failed to fix the issue.

Remember, we're interested to hear if your iPhone develops problems, so leave us a comment if you've noticed anything unusual.