Synaptics is also looking at tiny touch-based LCD screens to replace touchpads, but that has limited usability and versatility, Vena said. Many companies and PC makers have already talked about similar concepts. For example, Microsoft's SideShow concept places a tiny LCD on a laptop's surface so users can read e-mail messages or check a flight reservation without switching on a computer.

"The problem with that is cost," Vena said. PC makers look at the overheads when building laptops, and touchpads aren't expensive, costing anywhere between US$3 and $4. "When you start talking about replacing your touchpad with an LCD, you are then talking about $40 or $50," Vena said.

A graphical user interface (GUI) and applications also need to be built around the LCD-based touchpad to make it usable, which could require a lot of work, Vena said. "I don't see that in the short term. I see the large touch-screen stuff happening a lot quicker."

Synaptics' immediate focus, though, is eliminating touchpad buttons with its Clickpad technology, functionality that Apple offers in some MacBook laptops today. The technology builds click functions inside the touchpad surface.

"It allows you to put a larger touchpad in a smaller space," Vena said. A touchpad based on Clickpad technology will be incorporated in laptops and netbooks starting by the end of the year, he said.