Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
has designed and manufactured several models of
mice
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
,
trackpads and other
pointing device
A pointing device is a human interface device that allows a user to input spatial (i.e., continuous and multi-dimensional) data to a computer. CAD systems and graphical user interfaces (GUI) allow the user to control and provide data to t ...
s, primarily for use with
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers. Over the years, Apple has maintained a distinct form and function with its mice that reflect their design languages of that time. Apple's current external pointing devices are the
Magic Mouse 2
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and
Magic Trackpad 2
The second-generation Magic Trackpad (initially marketed as Magic Trackpad 2) is a multi-touch and Force Touch trackpad produced by Apple Inc. It was announced on October 13, 2015 alongside the Magic Keyboard and second-generation Magic Mouse, a ...
.
Mice
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.
Mice made by Apple contained a ball-tracking control mechanism, until the Pro Mouse in 2000 when Apple moved to an optical-based tracking mechanism. Apple's current mouse, the Magic Mouse 2, uses laser tracking.
Background
![Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II-7510](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Apple_Desktop_Bus_Mouse_II-7510.jpg)
In 1979, Apple was planning to develop a business computer, and arranged a visit with the
Xerox Parc
PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xero ...
research center to view some of their experimental technology. It was there they discovered the mouse, invented by
Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...
while he was working at
SRI International
SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...
(SRI); the mouse had subsequently been incorporated into the graphical user interface (GUI) used on the
Xerox Alto
The Xerox Alto is a computer designed from its inception to support an operating system based on a graphical user interface (GUI), later using the desktop metaphor. The first machines were introduced on 1 March 1973, a decade before mass-market G ...
. During an interview, Engelbart said "SRI patented the mouse, but they really had no idea of its value. Some years later it was learned that they had licensed it to Apple for something like ." Apple was so inspired by the mouse they scrapped their current plans and redesigned everything around the mouse and GUI.
One of the biggest problems was that the three button Xerox mouse cost over to build, which was not practical for a consumer-based personal computer. Apple commissioned Hovey-Kelley Design (which later became
IDEO
IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...
) to assist them with the mouse design, which not only had to be redesigned to cost instead of , but also needed to be tested with real consumers outside a laboratory setting to learn how people were willing to use it. Hundreds of prototypes later, Apple settled on a single button mouse, roughly the size of a deck of cards. With the design complete, the operating system was adapted to interface with the single button design using keystrokes in combination with button clicks to recreate some of the features desired from the original Xerox three-button design.
Models
Lisa Mouse (A9M0050)
![Apple Lisa mouse (2283395560)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Apple_Lisa_mouse_%282283395560%29.jpg)
The
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
created for the
Apple Lisa
Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, released on January 19, 1983. It is one of the first personal computers to present a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine aimed at individual business users. Its development began in 1978. ...
was one of the first commercial mice ever produced. Included with the Lisa system in 1983, it was based on the mouse used in the 1970s on the
Alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
computer at
Xerox PARC
PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xero ...
. Unique to this mouse was the use of a steel ball, instead of the usual rubber ball found in subsequent Apple mice. It connected to the computer by means of a standard squeeze-release
DE-9
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smallest connectors used on computer systems.
Description, no ...
connector. Though developed by Apple, the mouse was designed by
Hovey-Kelley (renamed
IDEO
IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...
in 1991
), who built hundreds of prototypes and conducted exhaustive testing with focus groups in order to create an ideal shape for the Lisa mouse. The Lisa mouse was subsequently used as the foundational design for Apple mice, until the introduction of the multi-button design on the Mighty Mouse in 2005. Every single aspect of the mouse was researched and developed, from how many buttons to include, to how loud the click should be. The original case design was designed by Bill Dresselhaus, and incorporated an
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-inspired style with formal curving lines to match the Lisa design language.
Macintosh Mouse (M0100)
![Apple Macintosh Plus mouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Apple_Macintosh_Plus_mouse.jpg)
The
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
mouse was very similar to the original Lisa mouse, with both mice being compatible with the Lisa and Macintosh. The case was a slightly darker brown than Lisa's beige coloring and it had less formal lines, with a thick chamfer around its edges to match the Macintosh case. Mechanically, the Lisa's steel ball was replaced by a rubber covered steel ball, but otherwise connected with the same DE-9 connectors, though updated with a square-shape and standard thumb screws. When the
Macintosh Plus
The Macintosh Plus computer is the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2,599. As an evolutiona ...
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. The following year, Apple once again unified its product lines by adopting a uniform "Platinum" gray color for all products. The Macintosh mouse had its final design change in 1987, updating both its color to Platinum with contrasting dark gray "Smoke" accents and minor mechanism changes.
Apple Mouse IIc
![Apple II mouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Apple_II_mouse.jpg)
Four months after the Macintosh debut, the
Apple IIc
The Apple IIc, the fourth model in the Apple II series of personal computers, is Apple Computer's first endeavor to produce a portable computer. The result was a notebook-sized version of the Apple II that could be transported from place to pl ...
was introduced with the addition of an optional mouse (the M0100) to manipulate standard 80 column text. The mouse was similar to the Macintosh mouse, though it was in a creamy-beige color that co-ordinated with the IIc's bright off-white case and had a slightly modified design which was sleeker than the Macintosh's blockier shape. 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. In order for the IIc to know what was plugged into it, its mouse had to send the appropriate signal. Despite these differences, it carried exactly the same model number as the Macintosh version.
The A2M4015, packaged for the IIc, coincided with a minor change in the mouse mechanism and connector style.
In 1988 the A2M4035 took on the identical physical appearance and coloring as the Platinum gray Macintosh Mouse. Unlike its predecessors, the USA manufactured versions of the Platinum Macintosh/Apple IIe mouse will work on the IIc too. All versions of the IIc Mouse will work with any Macintosh or Apple II card. As a result, Apple briefly sold the intermediate model as the ''Apple Mouse'' optionally for use across all platforms.
Apple Mouse II (M0100/A2M2050)
By mid-1984, Apple's commitment to bringing the mouse to its entire product line resulted in the release of the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
''Mouse Interface''
peripheral card. Since this was a dedicated mouse port, Apple simply re-packaged the Macintosh mouse, but with the same creamy-beige cable and connector used on the IIc mouse and bundled it along with special software called ''
MousePaint
Bill Budge (born August 11, 1954) is a retired American video game programmer and designer. He is best known for the Apple II games '' Raster Blaster'' (1981) and ''Pinball Construction Set'' (1983).
Early games
Budge says he became interested ...
'' for use with the Apple II, II Plus, and IIe computers. Like the original IIc mouse, it used the same model number as the Macintosh Mouse. Unlike the Mouse IIc, however, it can be interchanged with the Macintosh version, but cannot be used on the IIc. Due to the popularity of the Macintosh and shortage of mice, Apple later repackaged the original ''Apple Mouse IIc'' in this bundle as well since it was cross-platform compatible. The ''AppleMouse II'' and its successors were never included as standard equipment on any computer.
Apple Mouse (A2M4015)
Since the original Apple Mouse IIc was compatible across all platforms, Apple renamed the mouse in 1985 and offered it as an optional purchase for all computers and separate from the Apple II interface card. It featured an updated mechanism and the new uniform rounded cable connector. Apple would briefly reuse this name later for a re-badged ''Apple Pro Mouse''.
Apple Mouse IIe (A2M2070)
By 1986, Apple had updated its product lines with new cable connectors. With the
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced'', referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in ...
already three years old, the AppleMouse II was re-badged for the IIe alone and essentially used a repackaged Macintosh Mouse with no modifications. Later it would also use the Platinum Macintosh version. The US-manufactured version of the Platinum mouse is also interchangeable with the identical-looking IIc mouse.
Apple Desktop Bus Mouse (G5431/A9M0331)
![Apple desktop mouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Apple_desktop_mouse.jpg)
In September 1986, Apple continued a year of major change by converting its mice and keyboards to the
Apple Desktop Bus
Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) is a proprietary bit-serial peripheral bus connecting low-speed devices to computers. It was introduced on the Apple IIGS in 1986 as a way to support low-cost devices like keyboards and mice, allowing them to be connect ...
(ADB). Newly redesigned, this mouse retained the blocky footprint of its predecessor, but had a lower, triangular profile. The first official
Snow White design language
The Snow White design language is an industrial design language which was developed by Hartmut Esslinger's Frog Design. Used by Apple Computer from 1984 to 1990, the scheme has vertical and horizontal stripes for decoration, ventilation, and to ...
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. It was introduced on the
Apple IIGS
The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...
computer and later became the standard mouse included with all Macintosh desktop computers for the next six years.
There were a total of 3 mice of this type produced. The original was manufactured in Taiwan with 2 variations. 1 was sold with the Apple IIGS with the model number designation A9M0331. The other was sold with the Macintosh II and Mac SE with a family number designation G5431. Besides FCC ID numbers, both were exactly alike and came with a black track ball.
The other 2 were manufactured in the US and Malaysia with the family designation of G5431. Both identical to the Taiwan made mouse with the exception of a grey mouse ball.
Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II (M2706, M2707)
![ADB mouse II range cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/ADB_mouse_II_range_cropped.jpg)
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. Indeed, the basic design has persevered into current models, as well as being widely adopted by other mouse manufacturers. It was included with all Macintosh desktop computers from 1993 until 1998 in platinum color under the model M2706. It was also the first mouse produced by Apple in black to match the
Macintosh TV
The Macintosh TV is a personal computer with integrated television capabilities released by Apple Computer in 1993. It was Apple's first attempt at computer-television integration. It shares the external appearance of the Macintosh LC 500 series, ...
as well as the
Performa 5420 sold in black; also under the model M2706. A dark gray version was released in 1993 as a color coded accessory for the PowerBook 100 series under the model M2707.
Apple USB Mouse (M4848)
![Apple USB Mouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Apple_USB_Mouse.JPG)
The Apple USB Mouse was Apple's first USB mouse. Released with the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
in 1998 and included with all successive desktop Macs for the next two years, the round "Hockey puck"
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...
mouse is widely considered one of Apple's worst mistakes. Marking the switch from ADB, the colorful translucent mouse was a radical departure from its predecessors, down to a ball whose two-tone surface fluttered past the user's eyes as it spun under the mouse's translucent housing.
However stylish, the mouse's round shape is widely considered clumsy, due to its small size and tendency to rotate in use. This was a major cause for the success of ADB to USB adapters, as they allowed for the use of the older, more comfortable ADB Mouse II to be used with those iMacs. Later revisions included a shallow indentation on the front of the single mouse button, but this was not enough to prevent a flood of third-party shells that attached to the USB mouse to give it the ADB mouse's
elliptical
Elliptical may mean:
* having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape
** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape
** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform
* characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by conc ...
shape.
Another flaw introduced in the Apple USB Mouse, shared across all of Apple's USB offerings, is the atypically short cord. Though intended for use through the integrated
hub in Apple's keyboards (which have themselves had shorter integral cables since the USB transition, eventually prompting Apple to bundle keyboard-only extension cables with tower Macs), Apple's transition to USB coincided with the relocation of ports on their laptops from the center to the left edge. As none of Apple's USB mice have cords longer than two feet, they are impractical for most right-handed users.
Apple Pro Mouse (M5769)
![Apple-pro-mouse1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Apple-pro-mouse1.jpg)
In a move away from the bold colors of the iMac and in a return to the styling of the traditional mouse design, Apple discontinued the USB Mouse in July 2000, and introduced the all-black Pro Mouse. A similar design to the ADB II mouse, the black Apple Pro Mouse was surrounded by a clear plastic shell. After taking years of criticism for their continuation of the one-button mouse, Apple effectively flipped the design of a "normal" mouse upside-down, with the sleekly featureless appearance that resulted inspiring its jocular appellation as "the first zero-button mouse."
This was the first Apple mouse to use a solid-state optical tracking instead of a rubber ball for its tracking mechanism. A dial is located on the mouse to adjust the mouse's click force. It was included as the standard mouse with all shipping desktop Macs, and was later made available in white. 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.
The Apple Wireless Mouse (A1015), a
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
-based wireless version of the Apple Pro Mouse in white, was released in September 2003 as Apple's first wireless mouse.
Apple Mighty Mouse
![Apple Mighty Mouse Wireless in perspective](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Apple_Mighty_Mouse_Wireless_in_perspective.jpg)
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 Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
. This mouse was called the Mighty Mouse but was renamed to just 'Apple Mouse' in 2009 due to legal issues with the name.
The Mighty Mouse includes a touch-sensitive button design that supports left and right click, as well as a scroll ball that supports 360-degree scroll movement. A wireless version (A1197) of the Mighty Mouse was also released, replacing the Wireless Mouse.
Magic Mouse
= 1st generation
=
![Magic Mouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Magic_Mouse.jpg)
Introduced on October 20, 2009 as a replacement to the wireless Mighty Mouse, the Magic Mouse features a multi-touch interface similar to the iPhone, iPod Touch and MacBook trackpads. The mouse also includes wireless Bluetooth capabilities and a laser-tracking sensor. The Magic Mouse supports two-button click, multi-touch gestures and inertia scrolling in Mac OS X. The Magic Mouse was included with the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
and the first-generation
Mac Pro
Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals that are designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of f ...
.
= 2nd generation
=
On October 13, 2015, Apple released a second-generation Magic Mouse (initially marketed as Magic Mouse 2), replacing the first-generation Magic Mouse. It is powered off of a rechargeable
Li-ion battery
A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also sees ...
instead of
AA batteries
AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army
* '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992
* Aa!, a J-Pop musical group
* Dou ...
. The battery is charged via the
Lightning port located on the bottom of the mouse. As a result, the mouse is unusable while charging, a design choice that was poorly received by critics. The Magic Mouse 2 has been included with the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
,
iMac Pro
The iMac Pro is a discontinued all-in-one personal computer and workstation designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. It was released on December 14, 2017. While it was sold, it was one of four desktop computers in the Macintosh lineup, si ...
, and
Mac Pro
Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals that are designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of f ...
, and is also available as a separate purchase.
Recent versions of
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
and
iPadOS
iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product l ...
include full support for the second-generation Magic Mouse. The mouse has been made available in many different colors; it has been available in a white and silver color since 2015, same as the first-generation Magic Mouse. A space grey color was introduced in 2017 to match the
iMac Pro
The iMac Pro is a discontinued all-in-one personal computer and workstation designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. It was released on December 14, 2017. While it was sold, it was one of four desktop computers in the Macintosh lineup, si ...
, a black and silver color in 2019 to match the third-generation
Mac Pro
Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals that are designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of f ...
, and a variety of pastel colors in 2021 to match the
M1 iMac
The iMac with Apple silicon, also known as the iMac M1, is a Macintosh All-in-one PC, all-in-one desktop computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The first iMac with Apple silicon, a redesigned 24-inch model based on th ...
.
Paddles
;"Apple Hand Controllers II" and "Apple Hand Controllers IIe, IIc" (A2M2001): These
paddles
A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered wa ...
were the original Apple-branded game controllers.
Joysticks
;"Apple Joystick IIe, IIc" (A2M2002): Manufactured by
The Keyboard Company. Essentially a gaming device around long before the mouse, the
joystick
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...
could be used for many of the same functions.
Tablets
;Apple Graphics Tablet (A2M0029): The Apple
Graphics Tablet
A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a spec ...
was a large flat surface covered with a grid and had an attached
stylus
A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...
. Released for the
Apple II Plus
The Apple II Plus (stylized as Apple ] or apple plus) is the second model of the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. It was sold from June 1979 to December 1982. Approximately 380,000 II Pluses were sold during it ...
and later a modified version for the
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced'', referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in ...
.
;Pippin Keyboard: An optional keyboard accessory was provided for the
Apple Pippin, Pippin, which had a large graphics tablet and stylus on the top half of its notebook-like hinged body.
Trackballs
![TrackballPB145](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/TrackballPB145.jpg)
Apple was one of the first computer manufacturers to include a built-in
trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-s ...
into a complete system with the
Macintosh Portable
Macintosh Portable is a laptop designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to October 1991. It is the first battery-powered Macintosh, which garnered significant excitement from critics, but sales to customers ...
in 1989. The first entries in the company's PowerBook line of notebook computers put the trackball directly below the keyboard—a first for laptop design and a configuration which was borrowed by many competing
Wintel
Wintel (portmanteau of Windows and Intel) is the partnership of Microsoft Windows and Intel producing personal computers using Intel x86-compatible processors running Microsoft Windows.
Background
By the early 1980s, the chaos and incompatibil ...
notebook manufacturers in the mid-1990s.
;Macintosh Portable: The
Macintosh Portable
Macintosh Portable is a laptop designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to October 1991. It is the first battery-powered Macintosh, which garnered significant excitement from critics, but sales to customers ...
was the first Apple machine to use a
trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-s ...
, essentially a large palm-sized, upside-down ball mouse. The trackball was removable and could be placed on either side of the keyboard, or removed and a number pad installed in its place.
;PowerBook: The
PowerBook
The PowerBook (known as Macintosh PowerBook before 1997) is a family of Macintosh laptop computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1991 to 2006. During its lifetime, the PowerBook went through several major revisions and r ...
line scaled down the trackball to be thumb-sized and included one in every portable from 1991 to 1995 when it was phased out in favor of the
trackpad
A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchp ...
.
;Pippin controller ("Apple Jack"): The
Apple Pippin, Pippin, developed by Apple, had a gamepad with a built-in trackball. Versions were made which connected via the Pippin's AppleJack childproof
ADB connector, infrared, and normal ADB.
Trackpads
Built-in trackpads
Notebooks
![IPod Nano 2G track wheel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/IPod_Nano_2G_track_wheel.jpg)
The
trackpad
A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchp ...
is the built-in pointing device on all Apple notebook computers since 1995, and is colored to match the laptop case. The
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is a line of ultrabook computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc. It consists of a full-size keyboard, a machined aluminum case, and, in the more modern versions, a thin light structure. The Air was originally positioned ...
introduced a
multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...
trackpad with
gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...
support, which has since spread to the rest of Apple's portable products. Like Apple's single-button mice, all of their trackpads have no more than one button (though some early PowerBooks had a second physical button, it was electrically the same as the primary button) also like Apple's new mice, their latest trackpads—beginning with the unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros—eliminated physical buttons.
Current MacBooks, starting with the
2015 MacBook, include a
Force Touch
Force Touch is a haptic technology developed by Apple Inc. that enables trackpads and touchscreens to distinguish between various levels of force being applied to their surfaces. It uses pressure sensors to add another method of input to Apple's ...
trackpad, capable of detecting multiple levels of pressure, and has a solid-state design with no moving parts.
iPod
Starting with the
iPod 2G, the mechanical
scroll wheel
A scroll wheel is a wheel used for scrolling. The term usually refers to such wheels found on computer mice (where they can also be called a mouse wheel). It is often made of hard plastic with a rubbery surface, centred around an internal rotary ...
was replaced with a wheel-shaped trackpad. Starting from the
iPod 3G, the media control buttons and menu button were also made to be touch sensitive. On the iPod 4G and newer, it has the media control buttons and the menu button built-in to it (doing away with the touch sensitive media control buttons and menu button).
External trackpads
Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh
The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh was the first Macintosh desktop to not include a mouse, and instead includes a trackpad which can be attached into the palm rest of the keyboard.
Magic Trackpad
= 1st generation
=
![The Apple Magic Trackpad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/The_Apple_Magic_Trackpad.jpg)
Apple released its first dedicated external trackpad, the Magic Trackpad, on July 27, 2010. It is a Bluetooth-only wireless trackpad, similar to the Magic Mouse. It is 80% larger than the MacBook trackpads of the time, and is designed to match the design of the
Apple Wireless Keyboard
The Apple Wireless Keyboard is a wireless keyboard built for Macintosh computers and compatible with iOS devices. It interacts over Bluetooth wireless technology and unlike its wired version, it has no USB connectors or ports. Both generations ha ...
.
The trackpad's clicking mechanism is activated by two circular feet located on the bottom edge of the trackpad.
= 2nd generation
=
![Magic Trackpad 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Magic_Trackpad_2.jpg)
On October 13, 2015, Apple released a second-generation Magic Trackpad (initially marketed as Magic Trackpad 2), replacing the first-generation Magic Trackpad. The second-generation Magic Trackpad is designed to match the
Magic Keyboard, also released on the same day. It introduces solid-state
Force Touch
Force Touch is a haptic technology developed by Apple Inc. that enables trackpads and touchscreens to distinguish between various levels of force being applied to their surfaces. It uses pressure sensors to add another method of input to Apple's ...
trackpad technology to desktop Macs, as well as a rechargeable Li-Ion battery, charged via a
Lightning connector
Lightning is a proprietary computer bus and power connector created and designed by Apple Inc. and introduced on , to replace its predecessor, the 30-pin dock connector. The Lightning connector is used to connect Apple mobile devices like iPh ...
. It is available as an add-on with the purchase of any desktop Mac, or as a standalone purchase.
Recent versions of
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
and
iPadOS
iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product l ...
include full support for the second-generation Magic Trackpad. The trackpad has been made available in many different colors; it has been available in a white and silver color since 2015. A space grey color was introduced in 2017 to match the
iMac Pro
The iMac Pro is a discontinued all-in-one personal computer and workstation designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. It was released on December 14, 2017. While it was sold, it was one of four desktop computers in the Macintosh lineup, si ...
, a black and silver color in 2019 to match the third-generation
Mac Pro
Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals that are designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of f ...
, and a variety of pastel colors in 2021 to match the
M1 iMac
The iMac with Apple silicon, also known as the iMac M1, is a Macintosh All-in-one PC, all-in-one desktop computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The first iMac with Apple silicon, a redesigned 24-inch model based on th ...
.
Magic Keyboard for iPad
The Magic Keyboard for iPad, released on April 22, 2020, is a keyboard case that includes a scissor-switch keyboard and multi-touch trackpad, to accompany the addition of mouse support in
iPadOS
iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product l ...
.
Touchscreens
;Newton, eMate: In 1993 the
Apple Newton
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category (the Newton originated the term), it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started ...
used a precision
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
which required a rigid and moderately sharp object for input, such as a fingernail or its included
stylus
A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...
. The Newton's touchscreen interaction was equivalent to a simple
graphics tablet
A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a spec ...
, and was used to affect what eventually became the most widely lauded
handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other dev ...
system on the market. This technology eventually found its way onto the Macintosh in the form of MacOS
10.2's
Inkwell
An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing. The artist or writer dips the brush, quill, or dip pen into the inkwell ...
feature.
;iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, iPod Nano: The
iPhone,
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
,
iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...
, and
iPod Nano
The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, using ...
incorporate
multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...
touch screens for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
's
gesture-based interfaces.
See also
*
Apple keyboards
Apple Inc. has designed and released dozens of keyboard models since the introduction of the Apple II in 1977. The current models in use are dual-mode (Bluetooth and USB) keyboards with integrated batteries: Magic Keyboard (silver only), and Mag ...
*
Timeline of Apple products
This timeline of Apple products is a list of all computers, phones, tablets, wearables, and other products sold by Apple Inc. This list is ordered by the release date of the products. Macintosh Performa models were often physically identical to ot ...
References
External links
Mac Accessories – Apple
{{Apple hardware
Apple II peripherals
*
History of human–computer interaction
Video game control methods