By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 09:00 AM EST

As first predicted by AppleInsider in March, Apple today introduced Mighty Mouse, its next generation mouse with multiple buttons and a scroll ball.

Mighty Mouse offers power users up to four independently programmable buttons, without compromising simplicity for users who prefer just a single-button mouse. Mighty Mouse also introduces an ingenious Scroll Ball that lets users scroll in any direction—vertically, horizontally and even diagonally. With the Scroll Ball, users can scroll with natural, fluid movements, making Mighty Mouse perfect for applications from viewing web pages and photographs, to video editing and music creation. Mighty Mouse is priced at just $49.

“With Mighty Mouse, we’ve simply built a better mouse,” said David Moody, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing. “With its innovative Scroll Ball and unique integration of multiple buttons, Mighty Mouse adds functionality while retaining the elegant, easy-to-use Apple design.”

Mighty Mouse is the first multi-button mouse that retains the simplicity of a single-button mouse, and can be used as a single- or multi-button mouse depending on the user’s preference. Mighty Mouse features a single seamless enclosure with programmable touch sensors that act as primary or secondary buttons. With a simple click on the upper right or left side of the mouse, users can instantly access features such as contextual menus found in Mac OS X and other applications. Mighty Mouse’s two other buttons are activated by pressing its Scroll Ball and squeezing its sides, and can be easily programmed to give users one-click access to Mac OS X version 10.4.2 “Tiger” features such as Spotlight , Dashboard and Exposé, or to launch any application such as Safari or iChat.

Mighty Mouse features an easy-to-use design that comfortably fits the left or right hand and an optical tracking engine for responsive and accurate cursor movement on almost any type of surface. With up to four programmable buttons, Mighty Mouse makes it easy to access key features of Tiger with the side buttons and Scroll Ball providing quick, one-click access to Spotlight, Dashboard and Exposé.

Pricing & Availability

Mighty Mouse is available immediately through the Apple Store, at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $49 (US). Mighty Mouse requires Mac OS X, Windows 2000 or Windows XP and easily connects to Mac and Windows systems; Mac OS X version 10.4.2 “Tiger” is required to customize buttons for one-click access to Spotlight, Dashboard and Exposé or to launch applications. Mighty Mouse is compatible with either USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports.

The first Photos of the mouse have been posted on AppleInsider.