When smartphones came with text-to-speech mechanisms, it proved to be a boon to the blind
community, who were finally make full use of one of the most significant discoveries of modern history.
Tech giant Alibaba has now taken the experience one step further, by making shopping much easier for
the visually impaired, than just reading aloud the item descriptions and price points.

Alibaba has done this by having its R&D division, Damo Academy, collaborate with Tsinghua University
to invent Smart Touch, a silicone sheet with sensory buttons that is placed on top of smartphone
screens. The sheet would serve to aid the visually impaired to shop and make payments via their phone
thanks to its buttons that allow easy access to execute actions like ‘Confirm’, ‘Go Back’, and ‘Cancel’
when using apps that support the addition.

For now, Smart Touch is only compatible with Alibaba’s own platforms, the e-commerce site Taobao and
its mobile payment service, Alipay. The film’s buttons have different functions for each of these apps,
and Damo Academy intends to work with other app makers out there to make their platforms
compatible with the Smart Touch as well.

Not limited to just touch, the haptic film also makes listening easier – when the phone is pressed on the
ear with the extra layer on, it will immediately remove the audio from speaker mode.

The research arm’s director, Chen Zhao has also stated that Alibaba does not intend to make any profit
out of Smart Touch, instead, distribute for free to the blind from its physical stores. Costing US$ 0.36
cents, the films are now in their testing stage, on the visually-impairs participants who were found on
Facebook.

This comes in the heels of the Chinese government’s mandate to large organisations to partake in useful
corporate social responsibilities. Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time for a renowned brand has released
tools for the visually impaired – Google launched the Lookout application while Microsoft boasts
Soundscape.