According to BGR's source, Apple is adding multitouch features to this software update in place of the button. Button taps will be replaced with swipes and multitouch gestures in order to return to the home screen or navigate to the app switcher.
If the software is losing the home-button functionality, it's safe to assume that the next-generation iPhone and iPad will probably lack the feature as well. In fact, Apple is already testing iPads and iPhones sans home buttons, Boy Genius said.
Rumor has it, this will fulfill one of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' wishes for the original iPhone. Apparently he didn't even want any physical buttons on the smartphone in the first place.
In fact, according to a 2007 Wall Street Journal profile of the CEO, buttons have been an issue for Jobs since he joined Apple in 1978. He didn't even want the "up," "down," "left," and "right" arrow keys included on the original Macintosh computer that the company produced. He felt that its absence would encourage developers to build programs that relied on the computer's mouse, a new idea at that stage.
The Journal report also said Jobs was resistant to the concept of a multi-button mouse that most PCs have, and Apple didn't produce a mouse with buttons until about five years ago.
If Jobs wish does come true, how will consumers react to a device that is completely buttonless? According to the Journal when the first iPod hit the market in 2001, the Apple tech-support lines most often answered questions about how to turn the device off and on, considering the music player lacked an explicitly defined power switch.
But given the iPod's undeniable popularity, people adapted to the minimalist design.
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