Microsoft Debuts Wireless Mouse

Sometimes, it's not just how your computer works, it's how it looks.

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday unveiled new computer keyboards in titanium, computer mice with horizontal scrolling capabilities and even a mouse outfitted in leather.

The new products, from Microsoft's 20-year-old hardware unit, aren't expected to be big moneymakers on the level of a Windows. Hardware unit sales — which don't include Microsoft's Xbox video-game consoles — are easily less than 10 percent of the Redmond-based software giant's annual revenue, according to regulatory filings.

But the hardware unit plans to help computer users accessorize well into the future, said Tom Gibbons, Microsoft Hardware general manager. In particular, the unit anticipates improving wireless keyboards and mice in such ways as extending battery life and developing technologies to detect and minimize interference from other wireless devices.

The computer mice hitting the shelves this year are a long way from those that first came out of Apple Computer and Microsoft's own first computer mouse — the so-called "green-eyed mouse." That beige and green mouse, which debuted in 1983, sold for $195 and did little more than move the cursor on the computer screen.

Since then, Microsoft Hardware has added features such as a wheel to let users scroll up and down a screen. The company in 1999 also introduced an optical mouse that uses optics instead of a tracking ball to move the cursor.

At the same time, as Microsoft hired designers and experts in ergonomics, the company changed the shape and color of its mice, Gibbons said.

"Basic beige is a thing of the past," he said.

This year, Microsoft is debuting its new "tilt-wheel" scrolling, which allows computer users to scroll side-to-side in addition to up and down. The change is particularly geared for spreadsheet users who want to scroll across a row without having to move the mouse.

The new products are expected to hit store shelves by the end of September. The mice have suggested retail prices between $44.95 and $64.95 and the keyboards have suggested retail ranges of $84.95 to $104.95.

Microsoft benefits from the small boost in revenue that the profitable hardware unit provides, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. But Microsoft also takes on new products to help push fledgling businesses when other manufacturers hang back, he said. For example, the company last year started selling a kit that lets consumers easily set up wireless networks in their homes. That helps drive that new market forward — as well as build demand for Microsoft software that takes advantage of such wireless networks, he said.