Billionth Logitech mouse scampers off assembly line

(Credit: Logitech)

Hunting down mice isn't my personal idea of fun, but this mouse mission might not be so eek-worthy. Logitech has launched a contest inviting people to track its billionth mouse shipped, a milestone announced Wednesday.

A PR stunt to be sure, but also a nice chance to reflect on Logitech's 20-plus highly successful years in the mouse-making business (check out this cool PDF of Logitech mice that never made it out of the lab--hockey puck design, anyone?).

But back to the billionth mouse. The milestone mouse's journey will be chronicled on Logitech's blog, Blogitech. Each day, the notable mouse (named Billie, naturally) will post online mouse-related questions. Get a question right and you can enter a daily drawing to win a Logitech product.

Founded in a Swiss farmhouse in 1981, Logitech introduced its first retail mouse in 1985 and reached the 100 millionth mouse mark in 1996. Today, it says it sells mice in more than 100 countries worldwide and manufactures an average of 376,000 mice per day and 7.8 million every month.

The company timed its billionth-mouse announcement to coincide with the upcoming 40th anniversary of the first public demonstration of the computer mouse (which, coincidentally, some might also peg as the 40th anniversary of RSI).

Of course, with input methods like touch screens and gesture recognition becoming more common, it'll be interesting to see how many more mice from Logitech (and others) roll off the assembly line in years to come. Is Billie becoming anachronistic?

[Hep Cat]

Does the billion figure count OEM mice, like the ones Logitech made for Apple and IBM in the 80s and 90s?

[Leslie Katz]

Hi Hep Cat,

Yes, that number does include Logitech's OEM mice.

[hblauer]

One of those mouse (mice) that didn't make it was an air cooled mouse for sweaty hands. I've seen a mouse at a store that incorporated an internal fan for that reason. I don't recall who makes it. A didn't Apple have a pancake mouse at one time?

[btljooz]

My most favorite, to the point that it's the ONLY mouse I'll use is pictured here:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/156&cl=US,EN

The ease of use of this mouse is phenomenal!!! I LOVE it!!! ...And hope that Logitech NEVER, EVER stops making this model.

[btljooz]

BTW: It works just fine with Linux, too! :D (Linux isn't listed on the site.)