Coming soon: Microsoft's answer to Apple's Magic Mouse

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 01 September 2011 08:06

Business IT - Technology

Windows users envious of the touch/gesture capability of Apple's Magic Mouse don't have much longer to wait for a response from Microsoft's hardware division.

Driven largely by the public response to touchscreen smartphones and more recently tablets, companies are increasingly adding touch features to operating systems and hardware for desktop and notebook computers. Examples include the multi-touch trackpads that Apple's been fitting to its MacBook and MacBook Pro models for some time, and the same company's Magic Mouse that combines traditional mouse actions with a touch-sensitive top panel that responds to multi-finger gestures.

This month, Microsoft will release the $99 Touch Mouse, an ambidextrous design that incorporates a multi-touch sensor in the rounded top case. The mouse supports the touch features of Windows 7, including single-finger scrolling and a three-finger gesture to close the application.

Other features include 2.4GHz wireless operation with an included USB transceiver.

Also new from Microsoft's hardware division is a 1080p HD webcam, which company officials expect to appeal to home and business users, especially those adopting Microsoft's unified communications products.

Disclosure: The writer attended Tech.Ed as the guest of Microsoft.