How long we consumers will have to wait for smudge-free touchscreens depends in part on the willingness of tech companies to get behind the research. Despite the computer makers knowledge of the research going on at MIT, none has provided funding, and licensing discussions are still at the beginning stages.  With sufficient funding, McKinley says, he believes they could deliver a working, scalable, and cost-effective solution to touchscreen makers within two to five years.

Money is the limiting factor, McKinley says. Its a question of how much are we willing to pay; how much are we willing to add to the price for something for a smudge-free screen?

The truth is, creating smudge-free screens isn't at the top of most manufacturers priority lists. Manufacturers typically see brightness, color saturation, and resolution or pixels per inch as their primary marketing issues for displays on tablets and smartphones, says research scientist Dr. Raymond Soneira, who developed the widely used .

But touchscreens, especially those for smartphones and tablets, have become a commodity whose main distinguishing feature is simply price. Device makers like Samsung, Dell, HP, and HTC play in an extremely competitive market where margins are squeezed to the limit. These companies are eager to pay lower and lower prices for touchscreens. So naturally the device makers and their touchscreen suppliers are in no hurry to introduce expensive new featuressuch as oleophobic texturingto the screens.