Microsoft introduces new mouse and keyboards, details OS X like gestures for Win

Microsoft has introduced new keyboard and mouse hardware that will concurrently launch with Windows 8. The new products – the Wedge Keyboard and Wedge Touch Mouse – will cost $79.95 and $69.95, respectively. Microsoft says that both have been designed with portability in mind, especially for Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets.
The Wedge Touch Mouse, as implied by its name, features a wedge shape with the top inclined surface that slopes downward being the touch surface. There is no scrolling wheel, hence Microsoft is banking on the fact the users will be using the scrolling gestures to scroll through the new UI. It uses Bluetrack technology that enables the user to use it on a plethora of surfaces, including non-conventional surfaces like granite or carpet or even a bed!
The Wedge Keyboard also has a sloped wedge like design and like the Wedge Touch Mouse its slope is there for ergonomic reasons. It comes with a foldable rubber cover that can also be converted into a stand for the keyboard.
Apart from these products, Microsoft has also introduced two cheaper accessories, that the company calls the Sculpt Touch Mouse and the Sculpt Travel Keyboard. Both the products cost $49.95.
Like the Wedge Touch Mouse, the Sculpt Touch Mouse will also feature Bluetrack technology and features a dedicated swiping area for the gestures, but apart from that it looks like a pretty standard mouse.
The Sculpt Keyboard is a lightweight keyboard again geared towards portability and will also incorporate some power saving features that will power down the keyboard when the computer is sleep mode.
The Wedge Keyboard, the Wedge Touch Mouse, the Sculpt Touch Mouse and Sculpt Travel keyboard will utilize Bluetooth technology and will be iOS and Android compliant. Interestingly, both the keyboards will also include dedicated keys for shortcuts to Windows 8 ‘Charms’ and other hotkeys.
To facilitate all these new mice and keyboards, Microsoft has all detailed gesture support for Windows 8. While Windows 7 has supported touch pad gestures for sometime, the drive experience has been very choppy, and historically Apple has only managed to nail the touch pad experience on its Macs with its homemade software drivers and glass trackpads.
These gestures will not only work with the newly launched touch pads but also older products like the Microsoft Touch Mouse.
It will be interesting if Microsoft has finally cracked this issue, as the success of Windows 8 on desktops will be linked to the touchpad experience delivered by these newly launched touch mice and the ones that will surely come by third party OEMs like Logitech. In the meanwhile check out various gestures in the image below.