The Magic Mouse launched by Apple late last year could be in for a major update after Apple lodged a new patent this week for a device that has a display screen.
Described simply as a “computer input device the proposed patent includes a display device,” the application clearly details a mouse that would have both a touch-sensitive surface and a built-in display.
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The application could well open up a whole range of new input possibilities, including using the mouse as numeric keypad, a phone, a personal digital assistant, or a graphics pad.
Engadget said, what’s more, the nature of the collimated glass used for the mouse would also apparently allow it to display a magnified image of anything underneath, and the images displayed would seemingly appear to be directly on the surface on the mouse, and not appear to be under the glass (we’re not talking about a regular capacitive touchscreen on a mouse here). Of course, all of this is still just a patent application, and Apple has a long, long string of those that have yet to result in anything — still, something about this one strikes us a bit more likely than, say, a head-mounted iPhone display.
