The Magic Trackpad was finally introduced at the Apple Store Tuesday, enhancing the desktop with the multi-touch gestures used for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. A new wireless device that connects via Bluetooth, the Magic Trackpad lets you use your computer with gestures, instead of pointing and clicking. Some analysts say the Magic Trackpad is a gateway to the future of computer interfaces. The demise of the mouse at the hand of Apple industrial design is premature, others believe. Article resource - <a title="Apple Magic Trackpad - The beginning of the end of the mouse?" href="www.newsytype.com/">Apple Magic Trackpad - The beginning of the end of the mouse? by Newystype.com</a>.

Magic Trackpad a classic Apple industrial design

The Magic Trackpad bears Apple's distinctive industrial design. The sleek, glass-covered aluminum device matches the exact same angle and height as the Mac desktop keyboard it is intended to sit next to. CNNMoney.com reports that Apple started selling the multi-touch Magic Trackpad in its Apple Stores and on it is site Tuesday morning. The online store went down for a while shortly before the Magic Trackpad went live, causing the usual intense blogging about what Apple industrial design would come up with next.

A refined multi-touch desktop

The Apple Magic Trackpad enables two-finger scrolling, pinching to zoom, rotating with your fingertips, three-finger swiping or switching between applications with four fingers among its multi-touch gestures . In its product explanation, Apple says, "Go from typing to gesturing in one motion, or do both at the exact same time," and "Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever".

Was the Magic Trackpad made for 3D computing?

The multi-touch Magic Trackpad could signal the start of a long-term strategy by Apple to prepare users for a future 3D interface. Johnny Evans at Computerworld said that Apple owns patents for 3D user interfaces and the Magic Trackpad is a key step in the company's attempt to educate a population of customers into position for fully utilizing its advanced user interface. Evans imagines a 3D user interface in which you virtually reach into your computer screen using MultiTouch. He also visualizes the possibilities of using Apple's iSight camera to detect motion and allow users to compute via head movement, arm movement or voice.

Is the Magic Trackpad a mouse killer?

The Magic Trackpad doesn't signal the demise of the mouse, said Jared Newman at PC World. He said 25 years of mousing will be hard to change. The Magic Trackpad's minimal ergonomics made his fingers tired. He also didn't like the truth that when you're dragging something, you can't hold down a mouse button, lift the mouse and move it back to the center when you hit the edge of the mouse pad. But his number one reason the mouse will never die is that gamers can't play shooter games without pointing and clicking .

Additional reading

CNNMoney.com

cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/07/27/apple.magic.track.pad/index.html?npt=NP1"

Computerworld

blogs.computerworld.com/16607/apples_magic_trackpad_is_more_than_you_think?source=rss_blogs"

PC World

pcworld.com/article/201978/4_reasons_apples_magic_trackpad_wont_kill_the_mouse.html?tk=hp_blg"