From Napoleon to your cell phone:

The Braille language has been around since 1821 when Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned a written language that French soldiers could use to communicate at night with. And while it was too complicated to ever take hold the French military, Braille soon developed a niche following in the blind community.

And now the language of touch is making its way to the cell phone.

The vibrating Braille cell phone takes the numeric system of Japanese Braille, assigning 6 numbers to represent the basic syllables that are the basic building blocks of Japanese. Converted into a vibrating signal, the phone becomes a Morse Code like message; easier for Braille readers to understand than normal Braille becuase the Braille letters are so tiny on a cell phone, it's hard to differentiate.

As for English Braille readers, Samsung has whipped up an award winning concept phone, using a 12 button method.

Niether phone is available yet, but if anyone knows why the guy above is looking at what he's typing even though he's blind, please pass that along...

Japan Braille phone via, English one via