Microsoft Hardware Blog

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entry about how to pick the right mouse, and in the course of writing that post we discussed “what about people who want trackballs?” and “what about mice for left-handed people?” We decided to write a separate blog entry to talk more about how we decide what mice to include in our lineup. I talked to Elaine Ansell, who is the Product Manager for our mouse line, to get her thoughts about why we make what we make.

Q: Elaine, can you start by telling us a bit about what you do as the Mouse Product Manager?

A:  One of my main responsibilities as the Mouse Product Manager is to think about what products and technologies we need to develop in the next three to five years in order to meet our customers’ needs. For example, a while ago we realized that more and more people were carrying laptops around, so we introduced our first mobile mouse. Now we know that our customers need to use their mobile mice in lots of different places, so we developed our BlueTrack technology to track on difficult surfaces, and I make the case for where to incorporate that technology into our mouse products. I also look very closely at the value proposition for each and every mouse, so we have a very clear idea of how and why that mouse is going to meet the needs of our target consumers.

Q: What are some of the factors that go into choosing which mice we put in our lineup?

A: We’re always trying to balance the needs of a wide range of customers. For some people, ergonomics is the most important consideration. We have mice with varying degrees of ergonomic design to choose from. For other people, style is the most important. We’ve created some really beautiful mice, like our Arc Mouse, and our Studio Series of mice with patterns inspired by nature. We maintain a balance of wired and wireless mice, and mice sized for different uses or hand sizes. We also know that some people need comfort and style at value prices, while other people will spend more to get the mouse of their dreams, so we offer mice in different price ranges. Sometimes a mouse has been around for a while, so we replace it with a similar but fresher mouse design. Finally, we have to consider our retail partners and what styles and price points they want to buy from us to sell to their target end customers. Brick and mortar retailers only have so much shelf space, so they pick and choose to get an assortment of products that will sell well.

We balance all of this in our portfolio by doing a lot of research and a lot of listening. We do surveys and focus groups. We look at market research. We meet with the buyers for major retailers. We talk to our subsidiaries around the world to find out what will sell well in other countries. We bring hundreds of potential customers into our labs every year.* We keep up with the amazing advances being made by our Microsoft Research group. We turn our designers loose to create beautiful new forms and finishes. In the end it comes down to really finding out what our customers want and delivering that in a way that makes sense for our business. We keep track of how well we’ve pleased our customers by taking note of the trends for what they’re buying and what they aren’t.

Q: So why don’t mice made specifically for lefties make the cut?

A: About 10% of the general population is left handed. Our research shows that about half of those people use the mice in their left hand, while the other half uses the mouse primarily in their right hand (including several people who work in Microsoft Hardware.) There are also left-handed people who switch between left and right mouse usage to help reduce repetitive stress injuries, and right-handed people who mouse left to alleviate pain from mousing right. We decided to concentrate our mouse line on making great ambidextrous mice that are comfortable in either hand so we have several options at affordable price points, like our Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 and our Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000. We even have some ergonomic ambidextrous mice, including the Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 and the Wireless Mouse 5000.

Q: What about trackballs?

A: We recognize that some people are very passionate about trackballs, but this is a very small subset of our customer base and it didn’t make business sense for us to continue that product line. We are continuing to investigate ways to make it easier for mobile mousers to use less space. For people who use trackballs primarily for ergonomic reasons, we make mice like our Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000.

We know one mouse doesn’t fit all, but we’re always working to balance our portfolio so everyone can find a mouse they can love.

* Would you like to help us make the best possible products? Sign up to be participant in our User Research Studies at the Microsoft User Research site.