[btilly]

When I saw pinch to zoom, my first thought was, Minority Report.

Can a 2002 movie be prior art for a user interface? Because in this case it really deserved to be.

[jeltz]

I think so. There is a myth about a Donald Duck comic being used as prior art when denying a patent application. It could be true since the patent was indeed denied, but sadly the records of why has been lost.

http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/priorart/donaldduck/

[lloeki]

A similar, gesture based interface was present in Johnny Mnemonic (1995). I can't recall if it included pinch to zoom, but the gesture based interface was there.