NZ next-gen mouse on its way

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Simtrix's Swiftpoint next-gen mouse.

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Christchurch start-up Simtrix expects to begin selling a new type of computer mouse aimed at couch computer users by May or June after striking a deal with a contract manufacturer in Thailand.

Simtrix was founded by inventor and former games store owner Grant Odgers in 2005 and has received $2 million from investors, including venture capital fund Endeavour.

Mr Odgers says Simtrix' wireless, optical mouse will be designed to be gripped like a pen. It will appeal to people with laptops who don't want to use built-in touchpads, but who may have no flat surface to work on. Instead, the mouse will use the laptop itself as its surface.

"If you are sitting down on your coach or in a plane or train, it is pretty difficult to use a [conventional] mouse."

He will not disclose the initial production run, but says it would need to be large to keep prices low. "We are not going out there with a `boutique' expensive item."

Simtrix will sell the mouse online and through distributors, priced similarly to a standard wireless optical mouse, marketing it through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

"Because you use them in a mobile environment and it is quite unique-looking, if someone is out there is using it, hopefully that will be a living, travelling advertisement.

"We are still looking at the big guys – Logitech and Microsoft. Once we have got some sales on the board we hope we will come up on their radar."

Mr Odgers says technology has moved on since he first unveiled a concept for a magnetic mouse that would not require a battery. His initial idea was that the mouse would slide over the keypad and be tracked by electromagnetic sensors fitted under a computer keyboard.

"The only reason we were doing that was because when we first came up with the idea, that was the only way to build it." Optical sensors and wireless connectivity have now improved to the point where it is possible to build and power much smaller input devices, he says.

In terms of its sensing technology, Simtrix' mouse will be no different from a standard mouse.

"The innovation really comes from the shape and the way you hold and use it." Mr Odgers says he would have liked to manufacture the mouse in New Zealand, but it was not economic.

Canterbury University professor Andy Cockburn says that while scientists are working on the next generation of interactive devices, such as devices that can interpret gestures or even brain waves, the keyboard and mouse are not going anywhere soon.

"It's really difficult to beat the mouse in terms of high fidelity precision of interaction.

"An office worker wants optimum levels of efficiency. They want to get the job done as quickly as possible and gesturing in the air will be stressful, fatiguing, error-prone and slow."

- © Fairfax NZ News