We tell you everything you need to know about the Apple “Hockey Puck Mouse”, considered one of the company’s biggest mistakes.
Back in the late 1990s, Apple made an important decision. It was time to go USB and leave your own connections behind for mice, with the main purpose of improving products and compatibility. Naturally, they wanted to launch their own mouse, but not everything went as expected.
of this idea In 1998, the Apple USB Mouse was born.a mouse that very soon began to be commonly nicknamed “Hockey Pucks” for their curious resemblances. We are talking about a mouse made of colored plastic that matched those of the iMac, with completely round shape and that users did not like it too much at the time.
This was Apple’s circular mouse that nobody liked
As we mentioned, years ago Apple had the idea of create a completely round mouse for the Mac. In addition, it had a single button on the front, as was typical at the time for the brand’s operating system. This caused quite a few problems, considering that although at the design level it seemed like a good idea, using it was not exactly the most comfortable as it does not fit quite well in the hand.
The Apple “Hockey Puck Mouse” was one of the company’s biggest flops because of its awkward design. Image: VintageAppleMac.com
To this must be added that being so similar everywhere it was not entirely easy to find the right position to be able to use it normally, something curious considering its function. It is clear that seeing the cable, the button or the position of the Apple logo should be easy to find the correct position of the mouse, but the reality is that we don’t always look and many times we want to have it simply by picking up said device.
As if that were not enough, the users of the time also they complained about the cable itself used to connect the mouse to the Mac, because apparently it was too short. The idea was that it be connected directly to the USB input that the keyboard had and not directly to the computer, however the problem was that the mouse was usually placed on the right and could be a bit awkwardespecially considering the fact that seeing the position was not an easy task.
The mouse in question it was included in the original iMac from the year 1998. It actually came to match the colors of that iMac G3, so there were different versions depending on the color of the computer. Unlike the Apple Mouse II, This mouse had a USB port.giving rise to universality and dispensing with the ADB connector of the old Apple computers.
The Apple USB Mouse was sold to match the colors of the iMac G3, but all models had the same problems. Image: VintageAppleMac.com
In any case, despite the fact that this little mouse represented a great evolution in the world of Apple Macs and gave rise to the era of the USB connector and accessories, the reality is that for many is considered one of Apple’s biggest failures along with other products such as the Apple Pippin or the Apple Newton. Some time later the call came Apple Pro Mousewhich came with the iMac G4 and which solved all the problems of this mouse: it had a more ergonomic shape, a longer cable and what users needed, in exchange for the loss of color touches.
However, it is also true that This Apple “Hockey Puck Mouse” is still one of the objects that attract the most attention within the range of accessories launched by Apple. In fact, there are many collectors of the brand’s products who want to get hold of one of the Apple USB Mouse units sold.