Shortly after Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985, he founded the company NExT, Inc. With headquarters in Redwood City, California, NeXT created computer workstations and software that was originally intended for education markets. Notably, a NeXT computer was used by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau at CERN to develop the world’s first web server and web browser on the then-new World Wide Web. When NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1996 its core technologies were later used in future Apple products, including as a foundation for Mac OS X.
During its 11-years, NExT only developed a few hardware products, including the NExT Computer (later renamed the NExTcube), the Next Workstation, and several peripheral devices including the following:
- NeXT Color Printer
- NeXT External CD-ROM Drive
- NeXT Keyboard
- NeXT Laser Printer
- NeXT MegaPixel Display
- NeXT MegaPixel Color Display
- NeXT Mouse
- NeXTdimension color board
Sources report that NeXT only sold a total of 50,000 units among all its products combined. Thus, working NeXT computers are considered somewhat rare.
This NeXTstation mouse matches the color of the computer, has 2 buttons, and uses opto-mechanical tracking. NeXT had at least two mouse designs, this rectangular version and a circular design.
Sources: Wikipedia (NeXTstation, company); Internet Archive (Rand); Fandom (products)