Logitech targets the other ten per cent with left-handed mouse

After 25 years of mice, keyboards, speakers and Webcams, Logitech is doing spectacularly well in all its markets, forcing it to explore ever smaller and more specialised niches. That seemed to be the message at CeBIT, anyway, where the drumrolls ushered in the Logitech MX610 Left-Hand Laser Cordless Mouse, a mirror image of the Logitech MX610 Laser Cordless Mouse.

The new mouse has ten buttons, probably because its right-handed predecessor had ten buttons, but southpaws can treat them as a symbolic representation of the ten per cent (roughly) of the population that favours their left hand. Famous lefties include Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, but the inspiration probably came from closer to home: Logitech president and chief executive officer Guerrino De Luca is also left-handed.

The MX610 lets you point, click, scroll, zoom and control the volume on your PC. It also alerts you to emails and instant messages, courtesy of buttons that light up when new ones come in. It's all fab and groovy, but it's not exactly innovative.

Logitech also launched iPod speakers, noise-cancelling headphones, four Webcams, three other mice, a new version of the io Digital Pen and two new remote controls in the Harmony range. The mouse was the star, though, getting the most stage time and flashiest PowerPoint slide. Should you fall into the target market, it'll be on sale in April for €60 (around £40). -ML