Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse Officially Announced

The Arc Touch mouse was one of the teased, and re-teased devices that we were generally interested in seeing more of. After the launch of Apple's "magic" trackpad, seeing what Microsoft could come up with to counter-act Apple's endeavor was an interesting thought. And, now that we've got an official announcement from the Redmond-based company, we can say that we're happy to see that the mouse is still in tact, even if there are plenty of touch options in there to make any future lover happy.

As we've seen, the Arch Touch is a mouse that lays flat more often than not. But, it's when you fold it upward, and it snaps into place to enact that curved design, that it powers up. But, as we're sure you're wondering, where does the "touch" aspect come into play, because there are two mouse buttons present on this mouse. That would be between those buttons, which comes in the form of a strip, as well as sensor areas around that capacitive touch strip. You can use it to scroll down, as well as customize those sensors to do what you want. The mouse will also feature BlueTrack laser, to make sure it stays right on track, as well as use a small USB receiver to skip over the whole Bluetooth entirely. Battery life is estimated at six months, with the AAA batteries tucked inside.

The mouse will indeed cost $69.95 when it comes to the market later this year. But, if you feel like you need to pre-order it, you can do that later today, at Best Buy, Buy.com, and Amazon. You should see it hit the mail and head towards your mail box at the beginning of December. If you can wait for it to hit store shelves, Microsoft says that will be some time in January. So, who's getting one?

[via Microsoft]