Hurrah, it’s the MultiTouch Magic Mouse

In a wave of announcements which saw the term Apple shoot into the top ten trend topics on Twitter as Apple Stores worldwide shut down in a synchronised tease, Apple today introduced its all-new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use MultiTouch technology, the same tech used on the iPhone, iPod touch and MacBook range.

Just as in those products, this will let you navigate your Mac using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the £55/$69Magic Mouse constitutes a seamless Multi-Touch surface.

It makes it a breeze to scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos.

“Apple is the MultiTouch leader, pioneering the use of this innovative technology in iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple's Multi-Touch technology allows us to offer an easy to use mouse in a simple and elegant design.”

Magic Mouse features a touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support.

Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. It uses Bluetooth wireless and works from up to 10 metres from your Mac.

The mouse also includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included.

The new mouse ships as standard with the new iMac and will be made available through Apple’s various retail channels at the end of the month (wonder if this is the doo-dad Apple hopes to fly about and get under a few Mac user’s Christmas trees?)

Magic Mouse requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.8 or later.

As Apple explains the new product on its website: “It began with iPhone. Then came iPod touch. Then MacBook Pro. Intuitive, smart, dynamic. Multi-Touch technology introduced a remarkably better way to interact with your portable devices — all using gestures. Now we’ve reached another milestone by bringing gestures to the desktop with a mouse that’s unlike anything ever before. It's called Magic Mouse. It's the world's first Multi-Touch mouse. And while it comes standard with every new iMac, you can also add it to any Bluetooth-enabled Mac for a Multi-Touch makeover.”