The company is eliminating the click buttons to increase the size of touchpads, and is also looking to add new touchpad gestures to simplify routine PC tasks. Users will be able to design their own touchpad functions using custom gestures, Vena said.

For example, drawing A on a touchpad could take users directly to Amazon's Web site, said Mark Vena, vice president of Synaptics' PC business unit. The technology is just one way to boost the usability of touchpads and could be applied to multiple applications.

"The whole notion of creating custom gestures and doing that in an intuitive way is something we are spending a lot of time on," Vena said. A particular announcement date for the feature couldn't be provided by the company.

Bringing quicker shortcuts to launch applications through touchpads could bring the usability that tablet PCs couldn't achieve, said David Daoud, a research manager at IDC.

"The tablet PC hasn't taken off as much as many wanted it to," Daoud said. Touch screens could ultimately take off, but versatile touchpads could fill the role until users get more comfortable interacting with laptop screens.