[bsphil]

I can only imagine how pissed someone would be when they accidentally touch their phone or tablet with the wrong end of the Sharpie. Would rather put it on an actual pen than a permanent marker. Seems way too easy to make that mistake, since the ends even look fairly alike.

By the by, Sharpies are pens? Is it like one of those "all squares are rectangles" things?

[andrewmunsell]

Exactly what I was thinking. If you forget to put the cap back on your Sharpie, you suddenly have a nice black line on the screen of your brand new iPad Mini.

[freehunter]

Luckily, markers are not permanent on glass. Some glass cleaner or even regular rubbing alcohol will clean it off. Now if you have a screen protector, all bets are off...

[jlgreco]

It seems to me like having a screen protector should be the best case. Isn't this the sort of thing they are for? Peal it off and stick a new one on; much easier than scrubbing down your screen.

[freehunter]

Possibly. In my experience, screen protectors are fiddly to put on, and when I had one I never wanted to have to replace it. Far too easy to get bubbles. There's also some amount of cost involved in replacing it, no matter how small. Rubbing alcohol is just something you typically have lying around your house, the marginal cost is less than a penny. A quick wipe with an alcohol-moistened tissue is all it takes.

[jlgreco]

Hmm. Maybe they should make screen protectors with built in screen protector protectors. Each time something gets messed up you just peal off one of the several layers, like some sort of flaky biscuit of screen protection. :)