Apple should really think before making changes to its popular “Mighty Mouse” design

“Apple’s next mouse is expected to do away with the Mighty Mouse’s problematic mechanical roller ball, using expanded touch sensitive housing and multipoint touch detection mechanism technologies described in recent patent filings.

“Given Apple’s patented “inertia feedback” used on the iPod and iPhone, where item lists bounce when reaching the top or bottom and scrolling speeds accelerate in response to how the user touches the surface, the next Apple mouse is similarly expected to wed new hardware with sophisticated software to deliver an intuitive new feel in scroll navigation.”

The report includes the idea that Apple may drop its trademark white plastic mouse housing for something with an aluminum finish. That sounds not very attractive/useful at first blush, but maybe it will be better than it sounds. Or maybe white will remain an option.

I don’t use the scroll wheel very often, but it is unobtrusive and doesn’t cause me problems. I like the positioning of the button low on each side of the current Mighty Mouse (I use the Bluetooth version). I especially like being able to left and right-click with having to feel an actual button. Clicking on the proper side works very nicely.

So, I am actually pretty happy with the current Mighty Mouse and am concerned that Apple may try to do something so cool that the mouse actually becomes more difficult to use.

After all, in his history and despite its pioneering roll, Apple has mostly shipped some pretty awful mice over a two-decade period. It hung onto a single button design, supposedly a Steve Jobs dictate, for far too long.

The Mighty Mouse, introduced in 2005 and improved since, is the only Apple mouse that I have ever enjoyed using. Previously, I was mostly a fan of the giant Kensington trackball. [PC World]

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