With an oldie, but a goodie, AppleInsider dishes the dirt on Apple’s “jaw-dropping” new two-button mouse.
“According to sources who have so far filed accurate reports on Apple’s future hardware plans, the company is feverishly working on a two-button wireless optical mouse that it intends to release,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider. “Apple enthusiasts have longed for an Apple-branded two-button mouse for over a decade, but their requests have gone unanswered. So what has changed? According to sources, ‘it’s the company.’ With Apple now profiting from low-priced consumer electronics as it makes a push to reclaim market share from Windows, a two-button mouse is ‘almost an essential,’ sources said. It’s unclear when the computer maker plans to introduce the mouse. Insiders warned that anticipation may continue to build for months as the company perfects the product.”
Marsal also reports on rumors of new Apple AirPort wireless base stations in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Question one has to be, is this finally going to happen this time? Question two would be, how “feverishly” long does Apple have to work to “perfect” a two-button mouse? Question three has to be, of course, is there any Mac-related rumor older than the one regarding a two-button Apple mouse? For the record, we’d like an Apple-branded two-button mouse to be available, though not necessarily shipped as standard for Apple’s consumer Mac models. BTW, we currently use the Kensington Studio Mouse (three buttons and a scroll sensor) on all of our Macs.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Why Apple ships a one-button mouse even though Mac OS X supports multi-button mice – January 29, 2005
Macworld Poll: 34 percent say Apple Mac one-button mouse a mistake – April 07, 2004
Why no Apple two-button mouse? – September 17, 2003
The time has come for Apple to ship a two-button scroll mouse standard – June 09, 2003
Should Apple reconsider the one-button mouse? – October 23, 2002
I hate two-button mice. I’m frequently hitting the right button by mistake, opening up god-knows-what which I don’t mean to.
Does the splitting of the mouse button have something to do with the recent stock split?
Hey Loki,
You alluded to The Mouse from MacMice, but had never tried it.
I bought one and I am mostly pleased with it. OS X is just so advanced that the control (i.e. right) click works wonderful for all kinds of fun stuff. The scroll-wheel is so smooth, quite unlike all of those peecee mice that are more “digital” in their scroll wheel operation, with those jerky steps (I hope you know what I mean). The negatives however are rather annoying, first of all, the click sound is like ten times louder than the standard Apple Pro Mouse, its almost embarrassing. If you put the two mice side by side, you can really appreciate Apple’s Mouse, its like a diamond as compared to cubit zirconium. While The Mouse is “white,” next to the Pro Mouse it looks yellowed.
Due to these facts, I look forward to Apple giving us a choice between a one button and a three button mouse (scroll wheel=third button). I only hope that Apple makes sure that software companies don’t get lazy and force us to use the second button. The second (and third) button should be a luxury, not a necessity. I am confident that Apple can (and will) make the greatest mouse ever!
“A one button mouse is the way to go. What I would like to see is a one or two button footswitch.”
Neomonkey, great idea to get feet into the action. How about a full 32 note AGO pedalboard? There are any number of organ builders who could rig something up!
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Any button Mice are so last century. You want to really use a computer get a pen. It’s essentially 3 buttons on that, by the way.