Apple today introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch technology. Pioneered on iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch™ allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch™ surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and will be available as a Mac accessory at just US$69.
“Apple is the Multi-Touch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “Apple’s Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”
Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.
The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desk top and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 meters away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.
Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and is available at the end of October through the Apple Store, at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $69. Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.8 or later.
More info here.
Wow! Fantastic! And the predictions were right!
I’m multi-touching myself!
Finally, something for the south paws like myself!
Has the name been registered as a trade mark? Or has Mighty Mouse got a cousin who lives at Hogwarts???
It requires Leopard? Laaaaaame!
Somebody better hack together Tiger support for it, damnit.
New iMac and Mac Mini, incidentally:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/10/20imac.html
and the New 27″ iMac is stunning and spectacular.
This Xmas Shopping Season will be ENTIRELY owned by Apple.
Next January earning will be even more explosive and then…
just when you thought it was safe to short Apple ( I dare you to)
Apple’s got another home run product to spring on us.
Apple’s time has finally come – Apple is the Future – The future is now.
Oh, and updated Macbooks. Somehow missed that:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/10/20macbook.html
In case they announce anything else today:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/
The new iMacs are SERIOUSLY impressive… or they have the potential to be. Can’t see the pricing yet.
omg, I just had a Macgasm! I am soooo putting that 27″ iMac on my desk before Christmas!!! Thank you uncle Steve, you did it again! Stunning.
iMouse, another revolution.
“…two AA batteries which are included.” That’s not very green.
@Jacob:
Quad Core iMac 27″ = $1999 USD
Cheaper for education customers. Sweet!
Hey new remote too… Very cool.
Oh that is one sweet Mouse. I’m getting that!
@silverhawk: You can use rechargeables if disposables bother you
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
A new iMac for me! And it doesn’t cost $1000 to upgrade the RAM to 8 Gb! Every sentence is improved by using exclamation points!
I do like the look of the new mouse but i have reservations.
1] I’m sure i’m not the only person who rests his fingers on normal mouse buttons when moving it around. Not sure if this will still be possible.
2] In a continuation of reservation 1, there will be a tiny extra delay between bringing your finger down on the surface. I know this sounds picky but it is the same principle that can annoy on iPhone/iPod Touch games eg. Pinball, where your fingers are not resting on the ‘flipper buttons’ already and so will throw your timing off ever so slightly. I guess it’s not really designed for games.
On a positive note, it will be ideal for precision editing where the user normally worries about moving the mouse a pixel or two as the buttons are pressed.
“Finally, something for the south paws like myself!”
But reaching across to the right side of the keyboard will cause typos and spilled coffee.
Finally, a mouse that can roar.
Thank you Apple!
Not for me. Gonna get the Wacom Bamboo Touch.
Why a mouse? They were better off with just a portable multi-touch trackpad.
AA batteries instead of AAA?
Smart move! For the same price you get a much longer battery life.
No USB version?
@anon..
Tiger support? Are you f-ing serious?
2005 was a looooong time ago in tech terms. I sure hope you are being sarcastic.
@silverhawk
Does anyone else make Bluetooth mice or keyboards that use rechargeable batteries?
–You can always buy rechargeable AA batteries if you want.
I agree with R2 – Just a portable trackpad
Ordered – I guess we’ll see how it is.
Let me see if I understand this correctly:
Apple took the things that everybody hated about the mighty mouse and the wireless keyboard and made sure that the new mouse contained everything they hated (ie no two physical buttons) and no number pad on the keyboard and are now shipping them standard?
LOL
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
Multi-Touch on a mouse? If it were made by anyone else I would be skeptical.
For anyone else who still is, watch Apple’s video here
http://www.apple.com/magicmouse
Yes, I will be getting one.
You call that a “Magic Mouse”? More like a slug to me. aka. iSlug
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
Hmmm. From watching the Apple video, it appears there’s no physical feedback when clicking. And that’s a problem for me.
Also, if your fingers are resting on the top of the mouse, and you want to click, you need to raise your finger and replace it to activate a click. My index finger is dreading a day of “clicking” in this way – RSI in the knuckle?
Even though I have not even touched one of these yet, I have reservations:
Specifically, I have a dinner reservation for two at Smith & Wollensky steak house in New York City tonight at 7:30 PM.
Thank you.
RobLines: You make it sound like bootcamp…Get some life and let yourself.. you’ll forget your old habits after a day or 2 at most of using the magic mouse.
So much more to ponder and Hmmm about than innovation, Imagine what your efforts could be using and installing Win7…
I have tried to emulate the gestures shown on the video and found my wrist hurting after a couple of minutes. Constant raising and lowering of the wrist/fingers to keep the fingers off the gesture area will promote injury. Working in CADD, I constantly have three fingers on the mouse as well as left hand on the keyboard. I was hoping for a USB trackpad to emulate the trackpad on the portables. Saw the Wacom Bamboo and gonna get that instead. I don’t sell Wacom products BTW, but I just want to get away from mice as a primary input and just use my fingers.
Something to replace my ratty old MS Intellimouse!
I’d also rather have that Wacom thingie. I figured Apple was headed in that direction with all the multi-touch pad patents that were discovered.
Did Apple think we needed to be weaned off the mouse? That we weren’t ready for the big move to desktop trackpads? I thought they’d love to be a generation or two ahead of the game.
So I already ordered it, but here’s the one thing I’m concerned about: I love those side buttons on my mighty mouse and constantly use them for exposé. I’ll be disappointed If magic mouse has no way to conveniently launch exposé like might mouse does.
The lack of a number pad on a desktop keyboard is a feature? Not for me. At least a cabled keyboard with number pad is available.
Plus, almost everyone with a desktop probably has a laptop. A multi-touch pad that would maintain consistency between the desk top and lap top makes sense. The magic mouse just confuses the game.
I’m disappointed with this stuff but otherwise like the iMac a lot.
@I’m a PC..
While I won’t get into the folly of your trollish points, I would like to comment on your signature.
I think it is a telling differential between those who choose Windows and those who choose Mac… Microsoft feels (and rightly so) that it’s user base is so inept, that it needs an ‘engine’ to make decisions for them… kinda sad, no?
The old wired “Mighty Mouse” is now just called “Apple Mouse.” It got demoted for not being “mighty.”
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I don’t like wireless mice because of the need to change the batteries. I wish there was a wired version, but this mouse is too sleek to have a cable coming out of it. Seems like Apple should be able to use a permanent lithium battery, like the one in an iPod classic, and make the Magic Mouse rechargeable.
“Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.8 or later.”
Oh, f-in brilliant! So PPC users can’t upgrade from their stupid *Mighty* mouse … and don’t tell me Apple can’t make a driver for G5s even if they had to leave some features out. It’s yet another example of how Apple is trying to force their customer base to buy more products to pad their profit margin. It certainly seems to explain why sales are rising despite flat marketshare.
@ Brau
> Oh, f-in brilliant! So PPC users can’t upgrade from their stupid *Mighty* mouse
The last time I checked, PowerPC Mac can run Leopard, as long as that Mac is a 867 MHz G4 or better and has at least 512mb of RAM. That’s going back about six year to 2003 for an iMac, or even 2002 for a Power Mac G4, assuming add Bluetooth to them if not built in.
@ken1w,
Actually, you only need access to a Leopard-compliant Mac to install Leopard on ANY PowerPC Mac. Witness my 450 MHz. Cube running Leopard.
And, well I might add.
According to Apple support the Magic mouse will provide left and right click support under Bootcamp 2.1 & Bootcamp 3. Unfortunately, it will not support scrolling. This kills it for me! Bummer!
@ ken1w
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool hmm” style=”border:0;” />
I think you’ll find in the world of Apple that changing the name of a product to include the word “Apple” is anything but a demotion!
But why isn’t it the “iMouse”?