Job listing shows Valve ready to break into hardware business, but with what?

With its Steam software store, Valve has helped revolutionize the distribution of programs (particularly PC games). Now we have a further sign the company wants to shake up the hardware market.

A new job listing on the Valve website for an industrial designer takes a shot at the current stake of PC hardware, saying that "There’s a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked." As a result of the company's frustration with today's hardware design, it plans on "jumping in" to the space.

But what does that exactly mean? Unfortunately, the job listing doesn't give us any hint. We know that Valve has been an outspoken critic of Windows 8, and that it has been working hard to bring Steam to Linux. There have also been reports that Valve was showing off a gaming console called the Steam Box to potential partners, and has even dabbled in wearable computing devices.

In particular, the job listing points out that even the keyboard and mouse haven't changed much over the years (though gaming peripherals companies would beg to differ on that point). But would Valve really stop at input devices? How could it shake up the PC hardware industry as it seems that it wants to do? Give us your ideas in the Talkback section below.

[Via The Verge]