XIII. Apple’s New Mouse

Apple strikes again with a model of a new mouse, the Magic Mouse. Unlike the standard apple single ball click mouse, this mouse is entirely touch activated. The mouse lacks physical buttons but instead takes on a similar role to the iPhone. The top of the Magic Mouse is a sensor that reads touch gestures to scroll, pan, swipe and click on documents and in applications (Williams 1).  The mouse  sells for $69 dollars, is Bluetooth accessible and equally friendly to left hand and right hand users. The only downside, however, is that the mouse is only run with Macs running Leopard version 10.5.8 or later. This new mouse is being promoted with the new updated desktop iMacs for $999. 

I am not a big touch sensitive person so I’m not very keen on new technologies using touch sensitive. I like to actually feel the physical buttons and to know that I’m actually pressing something. Even though it’s a cool marketing pitch considering most gadgets are now touch savvy, I believe that it’s an inconvenience. First of all, I don’t like the original Mac mouses with the single scroll ball and single click so for this new mouse to be entirely touch sensitive makes it even more confusing and difficult to use especially since I’m used to double click mouses. Also, just because it works for a phone doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to carry through with other applications such as a mouse. The exterior and design may look slick, smooth, modern but at the end of the day,  it’s going to take certain individuals awhile to get used to. Unless this mouse has feedback such as there being a noise when one clicks (even though it shows a sound in the Magic Mouse video), it’s just going to be confusing. Even though I’m all for old-fashioned mouses (or is it mice?), I applaud Apple for coming out with this interesting concept and idea. We’ll just have to wait and see how it interacts with real human beings in the real world. 

For more information & pictures: Click Here or here for the official website

 

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