The Google Gboard Bar is a tongue-in-cheek product created with an elongated construction to offer users an unexpected kind of typing experience. The keyboard comes in at just under 65-inches in length and boasts all the keys on a conventional QWERTY keyboard, but in one long line rather than in rows. This enables the typist to immediately know where a key is located without having to do any searching, while the elongated construction could cause some issues.
The Google Gboard Bar is imagined in use around the house as a place to position chopsticks when not in use, as a handle for a bug catching net and more. The keyboard is a pun on how 'bar' is the next syllable after 'key' in the Japanese word for keyboard.
Elongated Keyboard Designs
The Google Gboard Bar is Just Under 65-Inches in Length
Trend Themes
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Elongated Keyboard Designs — As this product proves, there is demand for keyboards that offer a new typing experience, which presents an opportunity for keyboard manufacturers to innovate with elongated designs.
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Single-line Keyboard Designs — The Gboard Bar's single-line design could be a trend in and of itself, with potential in industries such as mobile device manufacturing, where space-saving design is crucial.
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Functional Novelties — The use of the Gboard Bar as a household item demonstrates the trend of consumers seeking functional novelties – a trend that presents opportunities for companies in the home goods or novelty items industries.
Industry Implications
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Keyboard Manufacturing — Keyboard manufacturers could take advantage of the demand for novel typing experiences and introduce new, elongated keyboard designs.
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Mobile Device Manufacturing — The Gboard Bar's space-saving, single-line design presents an opportunity for mobile device manufacturers to innovate with similar designs.
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Home Goods/novelty Items — The Gboard Bar’s versatility as a household item demonstrates the potential for novel products with functional uses in the home goods or novelty items industries.