NeXT Mouse (1992)

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)

Apple Desktop Publishing Pin (c. 1990)

This small square lapel pin uses raised gold metal and a primarily black background with a design featuring a red enamel Apple logo, an original Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) Mouse, and the words “Apple Desktop Publishing” cast in the Apple Garamond font.

The pin measures 16mm square. The back of the lapel pin uses a protruding perpendicular pin with a butterfly clutch to secure the pin to clothing.

Source: Wikipedia

The Power to be Your Best mousepad (c. 1986)

This mousepad was likely released around the same time as Apple released the mid-1980s TV commercial with the tagline, “The Power to Be Your Best.” 

The commercial features a man standing behind a window pensively looking at office workers wondering which computer is most powerful. A co-worker suggests that the answer can be found in system specifications, but the man concludes, “I think the most powerful computer is the one that people actually use.” A voiceover ends with the multicolor Apple logo and the words, “Macintosh, the power to be your best.”

This white mousepad doesn’t quite deliver on the ideal of “the best” because the “T” in the tagline at the top is in a different font (a sans serif font) than the rest of the phrase, “The power to be your best.” (Although this may be an intentional design choice.) In addition, the tagline font is not Apple’s corporate font of the time, Apple Garamond, and clashes with the font below it.

The lower-left corner features a large multicolor Apple logo and the logotype Apple Computer, Inc. (Apple’s official company name from 1977 until 2007 when it dropped “Computer” from its moniker).

This mousepad is 9 inches wide, 7.75 inches tall, and 0.25 inches thick. The mousepad has rounded edges and uses a thick, black, textured rubber pad. The bottom is also printed with the manufacturing company, COMPUTER EXPRESSIONS, Philadelphia, PA. 

Source: YouTube

NeXT mousepad (c. 1990)

While not an official Apple item, the company NeXT was an important part of Apple’s history. NeXT was founded in 1985 by Steve Jobs after he was forced out of Apple. NeXT created computer workstations that were intended for use in higher education and business and ran an innovative operating system called NeXTSTEP.

The first Internet web server was a NeXTcube used by Tim Berners-Lee.

NeXT stopped making hardware in 1993 and focused on software such as the programming environments of NeXTSTEP and WebObjects.  

Apple purchased NeXT in 1997 and Steve Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor. Apple ported the NeXT operating system to the Macintosh platform and the implementation became the Mac OS X operating system. 

This NeXT mousepad is primarily black and features the NeXT logo on a six-sided design. It measures 8.125 x 8.125 inches with a shape that is stylized to appear as a black cube (matching the NeXT logo designed by Paul Rand). The mousepad has a rubber base with a textured bottom surface that is 0.125 inches thick. The back of the mousepad has two stickers, the manufacturer (Data Pad from Orem, Utah) and the product name (“SPEED PAD”).

Sources: Wikipedia, Logo Design Love

Beige Mousepad (c. 1985)

This early Apple mousepad matches the beige plastics of the original Macintosh used from 1984 to approximately 1990 (Apple changed the Macintosh to to Platinum in 1990). The mousepad measures 8.5 x 11 inches with rounded edges and is 3/16 inch (0.1875) thick. 

The mouse surface is a textured plastic that is showing some discoloring due to its age. It features a classic Apple multicolor logo in the lower-right corner. The bottom of the mousepad uses a rubber textured material.

Magic Mouse 2 (silver, 2019)

According to Apple:

The “Magic Mouse is wireless and rechargeable, with an optimized foot design that lets it glide smoothly across your desk. The Multi-Touch surface allows you to perform simple gestures such as swiping between web pages and scrolling through documents. The incredibly long-lasting internal battery will power your Magic Mouse for about a month or more between charges. It’s ready to go right out of the box and pairs automatically with your Mac, and it includes a woven USB-C to Lightning Cable that lets you pair and charge by connecting to a USB-C port on your Mac.”

Apple’s website referred to this product as the “Magic Mouse 2,” but as of August 2021, a search on apple.com returned “…the product you’re looking for is no longer available on apple.com.” Thus, Apple apparently renamed the product “Magic Mouse.”

This wireless Multi-Touch mouse was 0.85 inch high, 2.25 inches wide, 4.47 inches deep, and weighed 0.22 pound. It shipped with a Lightning to USB cable for charging. It required a Bluetooth-enabled Mac with OS X 10.11 or later, and also worked on an iPad with iPadOS 13.4 or later.

Source: Apple

Magic Mouse 2 (space gray, 2019)

According to Apple, the “Magic Mouse is wireless and rechargeable, with an optimized foot design that lets it glide smoothly across your desk. The Multi-Touch surface allows you to perform simple gestures such as swiping between web pages and scrolling through documents. The incredibly long-lasting internal battery will power your Magic Mouse for about a month or more between charges. It’s ready to go right out of the box and pairs automatically with your Mac, and it includes a woven USB-C to Lightning Cable that lets you pair and charge by connecting to a USB-C port on your Mac.”

Apple’s website referred to this product as the “Magic Mouse 2,” but as of August 2021, a search on apple.com returned “…the product you’re looking for is no longer available on apple.com.” Thus, Apple apparently renamed the product “Magic Mouse.”

This wireless Multi-Touch mouse was 0.85 inch high, 2.25 inches wide, 4.47 inches deep, and weighed 0.22 pound. It shipped with a Lightning to USB cable for charging. It required a Bluetooth-enabled Mac with OS X 10.11 or later, and also worked on an iPad with iPadOS 13.4 or later.

This Space Gray color was discontinued some time in Summer 2021.

Source: Apple

Macintosh Mouse (original, beige, 1984)

This original Macintosh Mouse, Model M0100, shipped with a Macintosh 512K. This mouse was compatible with the Apple Lisa and was the same mouse that shipped with the original Macintosh. 

The original Macintosh Mouse used a DE-9 connector and remained unchanged until 1987 when its color was altered to Platinium (with Smoke accents) to match the Macintosh Plus. Like all early Macintosh mouse designs, it used only one button to control the famously easy-to-use Macintosh operating systems of the time.

Source: Wikipedia

USB Mouse balls (OEM replacement, 1998)

The original Apple USB Mouse, model M4848, used a half-teal blue and half-white ball that matched the Bondi blue iMac. When new iMac colors were introduced (blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine, and grape) the teal and white ball continued to be used until it was replaced with a gray and white ball.

These teal and white USB Mouse balls are official replacement parts provided by Apple.

Magic Mouse 2 (A1657, 2015)

The Magic Mouse 2 is similar to its predecessor, but uses an internal rechargeable battery that is recharged using a Lightning port. The Magic Mouse 2 is designed with its charging connector on the bottom and cannot be used while charging.

The mouse is available in silver (silver aluminum base with a white surface) and space gray (dark gray aluminum base with a black surface).

Source: Wikipedia.com