You may have noticed the recent surfeit of revaluation of , and articles about , input devices atMacworld ; we ’ve reviewed nearly 20 Modern keyboards and black eye and even ran a feature film on ergonomics . However , one thing that stands out — at least to a picky segment of our readers — is that many of the mice we ’ve reviewed do n’t come up in left - hired man versions .
This is n’t a fresh phenomenon . southpaw have long bemoan the fact that as mouse manufacturer have concentrated more and more on comfort and ergonomics , fewer and fewer of these “ novel and amend ” mice have been useable with the left hand .
A big reason for this is simple economics . I talk with a representative for Logitech , the US ’s top shiner marketer — and a company with a leftover - handed CEO . The representative excuse that the costs of manufacturing left - handed version of ergonomic mice are quite substantial . Although you might suppose that you could just slap the part into a other than - shaped plate , it ’s actually a much more complex process than that . In lodge to jibe in a left - handed intent , many of the mouse ’s interior components need to be completely redesign as mirror images of the right - handed versions and then manufactured separately — an expensive operation .
Still , companies do expensive thing all the prison term — have you seen the $ 300 iPod cases out there ? As long as a product sells well enough to be feasible , some company will be felicitous to make it . But there ’s the hitch : only 9 to 11 percent of masses in the U.S. are left - handed , wee-wee the left - hand mouse market just over one - tenth the size of it of that for righties . And on top of that , Logitech ’s inquiry indicates that a practiced number of left - handers really prefer to expend a decently - handed mouse . In other words , the real market for unexpended - handed black eye is quite small .
( As a side note , I was curious why a leftover - hander would choose to use a right - hand mouse . In talking to both Logitech and a number of left - handed mortal , I got a kitchen range of reasons . Some people do so because the choice of odd - handed mice is so poor . Some do so because of their work environment : correct - hand - centre work areas make left - hand mousing uncomfortable . On the other paw [ no paronomasia intend ] , some lefties prefer to mouse with their right hand for productiveness reasons — so they can , for example , keep their left over hand , and their left - hand work area , destitute for writing . )
Some user have also been disappoint to regain that the mice thatdoget revise for left-hander are more often than not in the center or upper - centre of a troupe ’s product line of credit , rather than the really nice models at the top . From peach with various vender , this is also an economical decision , as they ’re restricted to “ exchange ” the model that are likely to be the enceinte vender in rules of order to recoup the cost of production . unluckily , the top - sell mouse are rarely the top - of - the - line products ; rather , they ’re the fairly - price fashion model that are still dainty enough and proffer enough features that they ’re worth upgrading to .
