I reckon that developing a better alternative to scroll bars will be quite R&D intensive. Apple first improved on the Xerox Star scroll bar with the Macintosh

I reckon that developing a better alternative to scroll bars will be quite R&D intensive. Apple first improved on the Xerox Star scroll bar with the Macintosh (the Star's scroll bar didn't have a position knob). With iPhone OS, Apple improved on the scroll bar by removing the buttons, and by implementing 'rubber banding' and auto hide. Every elegant solution seems obvious after it has been thought up.