Apple pointing devices

Apple Inc. has designed and manufactured several models of mice, trackpads, and other pointing devices, primarily for use with Macintosh computers.

[1] Over the years, Apple has maintained a distinct form and function with its mice that reflect their design languages of that time.

Mice manufactured by Apple previously only had a single-button control interface, until the Mighty Mouse in 2005, which introduced a clickable scroll ball and multiple programmable buttons.

In 1979, Apple was planning to develop a business computer, and arranged a visit with the Xerox Parc research center to view some of their experimental technology.

[citation needed] One of the biggest problems was that the three button Xerox mouse cost over US$400 to build, which was not practical for a consumer-based personal computer.

[5] Hundreds of prototypes later, Apple settled on a single button mouse, roughly the size of a deck of cards.

When the Macintosh Plus debuted in 1986, Apple had made minor revisions to the mouse mechanism and across all product lines, unified the cable connectors and used a more rounded shape.

Four months after the Macintosh debut, the Apple IIc was introduced with the addition of an optional mouse (the M0100) to manipulate standard 80 column text.

It also was uniformly the same color, eliminating the Mac & Lisa's contrasting taupe accents on the mouse button and cable.

Unlike the Macintosh, the IIc Mouse shared a dual purpose port with gaming devices like joysticks.

The first official Snow White design language mouse (the Apple Mouse IIc was technically the first), it was a uniform Platinum gray color, including the single button, with only the cables and connectors retaining the contrasting darker gray "Smoke" color.

In only its third major redesign in ten years, the Apple mouse shed its blocky exterior for rounded curves.

The so-called tear-drop mouse, was essentially the same as its predecessor but with a new case subsequently held as the ideal shape of mice.

[citation needed] Indeed, the basic design has persevered into current models, as well as being widely adopted by other mouse manufacturers.

A dark gray version was released in 1993 as a color coded accessory for the PowerBook 100 series under the model M2707.

Released with the iMac in 1998 and included with all successive desktop Macs for the next two years, the round "Hockey puck" USB mouse is widely considered one of Apple's worst design mistakes.

However stylish, the mouse's round shape is widely considered clumsy,[citation needed] due to its small size and tendency to rotate in use.

[21] In May 2003, the mouse underwent a minor redesign, during which time the black version was discontinued, the click force dial was removed, and Pro was dropped from its name.

Previously included with all new Macintosh desktop models, it was a major departure from Apple's one-button philosophy integrated in its design since the Lisa.

The Magic Mouse supports two-button click, multi-touch gestures and inertia scrolling in Mac OS X.

[30] The trackpad is the built-in pointing device on all Apple notebook computers since 1995, and is colored to match the laptop case.

The MacBook Air introduced a multi-touch trackpad with gesture support, which has since spread to the rest of Apple's portable products.

It introduces solid-state Force Touch trackpad technology to desktop Macs, as well as a rechargeable Li-ion battery, charged via a Lightning connector.

Recent versions of macOS and iPadOS include full support for the second-generation Magic Trackpad.

[36] Apple was one of the first computer manufacturers to include a built-in trackball into a complete system with the Macintosh Portable in 1989.