FCC filings confirm Apple's new Bluetooth mouse, keyboard
Documents released by the Federal Communications Commission Friday show a new wireless mouse and keyboard from Apple, furthering reports of an imminent Mighty Mouse update.
The documents, first discovered by Engadget, confirm a new keyboard with model number A1314 and model A1197 mouse. The included dimensions show a keyboard smaller than the one currently available from Apple.
Earlier Friday, AppleInsider shared word that a newly designed Mighty Mouse is on the way. The new hardware, people familiar with the matter have said, will do away with the mechanical roller ball and use an expanded touch sensitive housing.
Sources said the new Mighty Mouse is a project under the direction of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It will take advantage of the company's patented multi-touch technology and provide an intuitive new feel for users through a combination of hardware and software.
Soon after the FCC posts were discovered, they were quickly pulled from the commission's Web site. The documents (1, 2) have seen been updated to crop out the hardware, and only display relevant FCC labeling and corresponding model numbers.
Additional information on the new hardware was not made available from the FCC filings, though their submission would again suggest that a launch of the new hardware is imminent.
The documents, first discovered by Engadget, confirm a new keyboard with model number A1314 and model A1197 mouse. The included dimensions show a keyboard smaller than the one currently available from Apple.
Earlier Friday, AppleInsider shared word that a newly designed Mighty Mouse is on the way. The new hardware, people familiar with the matter have said, will do away with the mechanical roller ball and use an expanded touch sensitive housing.
Sources said the new Mighty Mouse is a project under the direction of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It will take advantage of the company's patented multi-touch technology and provide an intuitive new feel for users through a combination of hardware and software.
Soon after the FCC posts were discovered, they were quickly pulled from the commission's Web site. The documents (1, 2) have seen been updated to crop out the hardware, and only display relevant FCC labeling and corresponding model numbers.
Additional information on the new hardware was not made available from the FCC filings, though their submission would again suggest that a launch of the new hardware is imminent.
Comments
Black keys and backlight, please.
+1 for the backlight, but no black keys please. They look ugly once the texture starts wearing off.
---
This is really interesting! Nothing really wrong with my current Mighty, but I'm excited to see what they'll come up with.
Documents released by the Federal Communications Commission Friday show a new wireless mouse and keyboard from Apple, furthering reports of an imminent Mighty Mouse update. ...
Interesting leak indeed.
I'm all set for a new mouse being as the Mighty Mouse only ever appealed to me for the first week of use or so. The cleaning is simple, but a device you have to clean all the time is just not fun.
Having experienced pretty much every keyboard I ever heard of from AT days to today, I have to say Apple's bluetooth keyboard is absolutely the best keyboard I've ever used by a country mile, so it will be interesting to see what the new model is like. It appears from the diagram that it doesn't have the cylinder along the back and is flat with a border all the way around like the iPhone (suggestive?) but I don't get the size change.
According to the diagram labelling it's slightly less wide (5 Mils or so), but hugely "deeper" (50 Mils). Although the image itself makes it look as if it's the same general proportions as the current one that's quite a change. Makes it almost possible that the keyboard will have palm resting areas or a trackpad.
It's also kind of intriguing that the size of this keyboard is the same or perhaps even bigger than the size of the screen parts that everyone is always talking about when they talk about the tablet. If it *is* a multi-touch keyboard and is the same size as the tablet, why wouldn't they just make the tablet? Will we all be buying tablets because we need a new keyboard and the tablet "guts" come with it? There are more questions than answers provided by this development as they say.
This is really interesting! Nothing really wrong with my current Mighty, but I'm excited to see what they'll come up with.
Good one. You need to laugh at least once a day.
It's also kind of intriguing that the size of this keyboard is the same or perhaps even bigger than the size of the screen parts that everyone is always talking about when they talk about the tablet.
The diagonal is about the same as a 10" screen, but I don't see Apple shipping a 10" screen in such a wide (almost 3:1) aspect ratio. If the keyboard says anything about the tablet, at most the form factor rules out the idea of the BT Keyboard 'matching' the tablet.
Knowing Apple, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the increased 'depth' is simply to make room for the battery, so the keyboard doesn't have that 'unsightly' cylinder across the back.
Sources said the new Mighty Mouse is a project under the direction of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. ./QUOTE]
If Steve's fully involved in this, we need a new mouse and it will be a powerful tool to give us another competitive advantage. Something else that Windows user's grandchildren can look forward to!
+1 for the backlight, but no black keys please. They look ugly once the texture starts wearing off.
That I didn't know... I've hardly touched the keyboard on my 13" MacBook Pro in favour of using it via a wired Apple keyboard (home/end I love thee).
But, now that you mention it, I think I know exactly what you mean: the keys get shiny patches in the middle where they've worn down?
In that case, I'd still go for black, as I don't use my bluetooth keyboard often enough for that to be a problem.
I want a new iMac now, I can't bear the wait any longer!
To my mind, the mouse was perfected decades ago with the Microsoft Wheeled Mouse. Everything since then has just screwed it up. Apple's current no-real-button mouse is laughable. Apple themselves had an excellent keyboard way back when. They've since screwed that up.
Apple should just take some of their untold billions and buy Logitech and be done with it.
It's also kind of intriguing that the size of this keyboard is the same or perhaps even bigger than the size of the screen parts that everyone is always talking about when they talk about the tablet. If it *is* a multi-touch keyboard and is the same size as the tablet, why wouldn't they just make the tablet?
What if the "tablet" turns out to be only a keyboard?
Sources said the new Mighty Mouse is a project under the direction of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
If Steve's fully involved in this, we need a new mouse and it will be a powerful tool to give us another competitive advantage. Something else that Windows user's grandchildren can look forward to!
Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but IMO Steve Jobs' personal idea of what constitutes a "great mouse" is quite out of touch with the average person's opinion on the same topic. All of his big time favourite mouse designs were the least well received.
For instance he really loved the hockey puck mouse which most people found carpal-tunnel inducing and a bit of a joke. He also was a leading advocate of the original "boxy" mouse with the single button, and a big booster of the original Mac menu behaviour where letting go of the mouse button made the "click." The argument for this is that it was "less clicks," which it was, but it meant that for many years Mac users had to hold the mouse in a kind of Vulcan death grip that gave a whole generation of Mac users hand cramps.
I'm optimistic about these new mice, but personally I believe Steve Jobs is "the problem" when it comes to mouse design at Apple. If you watch him using a computer in videos, at least half the time he holds the mouse like one would hold one of those old hockey-puck style ones, (as if it were a piece of poo on the end of ones fingers). I would argue that most users actually lay their hand on the mouse and use it by twiddling the fingers up and down.
Knowing Apple, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the increased 'depth' is simply to make room for the battery, so the keyboard doesn't have that 'unsightly' cylinder across the back.
That cylinder looks well, gives the object a nice shape overall.
Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but IMO Steve Jobs' personal idea of what constitutes a "great mouse" is quite out of touch with the average person's opinion on the same topic. All of his big time favourite mouse designs were the least well received.
Oh yeah, and that circular mouse for from hell, where you couldn't tell if you had its front or its back...... or its side.
This is actually the Apple Tax that Steve Balmer goes on and on about. You purchase a Mac and you have to immediately go out and buy a replacement keyboard and mouse - because Apple has no clue how to build one.
To my mind, the mouse was perfected decades ago with the Microsoft Wheeled Mouse. Everything since then has just screwed it up. Apple's current no-real-button mouse is laughable. Apple themselves had an excellent keyboard way back when. They've since screwed that up.
Apple should just take some of their untold billions and buy Logitech and be done with it.
Most people love the Apple keyboards, some people love the mighty mouse (I'm not one of them). However, I don't think I've ever been happy with a mouse that shipped with a PC either. If you want a good mouse, PC or Mac, you are likely going to have to pay extra for it. Please troll elsewhere.
Oh yeah, and that circular mouse for from hell, where you couldn't tell if you had its front or its back...... or its side.
Poor Yo-Yo, so unloved.
At lease it was color coordinated to the iMac unlike the MealyMouse.
What got Steve's ax this time?
Every time I plug a windows keyboard into my Mac, my brain falls out through my ear and I find myself completely unable to work. It's the "feel" of my Mac keyboard versus that of my windows machines (and those at work) that allows my brain to switch automatically between Mac/Windows mode. If I connect an Apple keyboard to my work PC (which I'd love to do permanently) my brain goes into Apple mode and strange things begin to happen.
I'm pretty dismayed at the new Numpad-deprived versions of the Apple keyboard, after trying to use my bluetooth keyboard in lieu of a windows one at my desk, I ultimately gave up and bought a keyboard with those much needed num and alt keys. Why are Apple so mortally afraid of catering to the needs of people with actual jobs? Not every Mac user is a latte sipping student douchebag who thinks num pads are the things you get on the employee doors at MacDonalds.
The Mighty Mouse, however, is an abomination before $DEITY. The button-on-the-bottom is a brain damaged-idea. The mouse left-clicks when it should right click, and vice-versa, sometimes to great effect when you're working in a detailed app. The "squeeze" button is so stiff I feel like I have to pick up the mouse and mash it against something to get it to work. The mouse is pain incarnate to my hands. Virtually any change at all would be for the better.
If Apple replaces the physical button(s) in the Mighty Mouse with a touch surface, they might have a winner.
(I actually use a Microsoft (shudder) mouse for the sane button placement and the IntelliPoint acceleration curve.)
It will be worth the surprise though, trust me! ;-)