People have been using the Qwerty keyboard (the keyboard you’ve been using on typewriters, your computer, and now your phone) for 100 years, but now there’s a new keyboard in town: the KALQ. According to Natasha Lomas in Techcrunch, this new keyboard will increase the ease and speed of thumb typing, which is more convenient on tablets and phones. 
KALQ has a split-screen, with most of the consonants in one block, and the vowels and the rest of the consonants in the other block. Just like the Qwerty keyboard, the space bar is within easy reach of your thumbs, but what makes it different is where the keys are located: the most frequently used ones are closer together, so your thumbs don’t have to go far to type. Also, your hands aren’t forced into one space because the letters are separated into two sides.
We’ve seen the Qwerty layout for years, and with the creation of KALQ, it seems like Qwerty is becoming outdated. But is this change necessary? Qwerty was created to prevent jamming when people typed with those more cumbersome machines, and we obviously don’t have such a problem anymore, so creating a new keyboard seems like a logical progression. Since the new challenge is rapid thumb use, the KALQ is supposed to help. But how will people accept this change?
Qwerty is so ingrained in our daily lives and even in our culture, it’s something that’s been taken for granted. There are probably a lot of people who never imagined the typing layout would change, and in a way, they probably don’t want it to. Usually change occurs when the current system isn’t working, and in business, that’s especially true. But is Qwerty not working, or are people just wanting to do something different, to set themselves apart?
The whole issue can be futile, but it also can make us think about what we’re doing in business: are we creating new ideas and products just to be different and trendy, or do we really need to offer something new in the marketplace? Even if KALQ doesn’t succeed and people won’t want to spend hours learning a new system, it will have still made an impact because it’s getting people to reexamine what the accepted status quo has been.
After all, at least once every century, even just considering change can be a positive step.
