July 24, 2006: The world gets it first glimpse of Apple’s new wireless Mighty Mouse, a multi-button Bluetooth device with super-accurate laser tracking.

Photos of the accessory come to light through a filing made by Apple with the Federal Communications Commission. Apple launches the wireless Mighty Mouse the very next day.

Wireless Mighty Mouse: Now with lasers!

The wireless Mighty Mouse came a year after the wired version, which represented a change of direction for Apple. Up until that point, every mouse the company shipped for the Mac came with only one button. Designed to simplify the experience of using a mouse, this constraint proved unnecessary by the 2000s. After all, many users had been using mice for the majority of their lives at this point.

The Mighty Mouse came with two buttons, a miniature trackball for scrolling, and side squeeze sensors — greatly upping the functionality of Apple mice. To get around Steve Jobs’ hatred of visible buttons, it retained the “no button” design of the company’s previous mouse. (That design came about after Jobs accidentally approved an unfinished mouse prototype.)

Users loved the Mighty Mouse. It faced only minor criticisms for things like the inability to click both right and left buttons at the same time (which continues with Apple’s current mice), and the fact that the scroll ball eventually became clogged with dirt and required cleaning.

Unlike the wired version, twin AA batteries powered the wireless Mighty Mouse. Apple claimed the new laser tracking, which replaced the original device’s optical tracking, made the Bluetooth mouse 20 times more accurate.

The wireless Mighty Mouse cost $69 (plus whatever you’d spend topping up the AA batteries). It got superseded by the Apple Magic Mouse in October 2009.

Did you own this particular Apple mouse? What is your favorite Apple mouse in history? Leave your comments below.