Apple, the company that first popularized the computer mouse, may have taken a step toward bidding the device farewell. Along with an updated lineup of iMac desktop computers, Apple this week unveiled a new pointing device dubbed the Magic Trackpad designed to replace the mouse.

The Magic Trackpad works a bit like the iPhone's touchscreen, supporting multi-touch gestures and allowing users to control the computer by moving their fingers across the surface. The rectangular device, completely free of buttons, is made with a glass surface and an aluminum frame and connects to the computer wirelessly through Bluetooth technology.

Users have praised the Magic Trackpad for its simple multi-touch functions and compact size enabling it to be used in a small area, unlike a mouse which needs a large flat surface. The palm-sized pad measures 14 cm wide and 19 cm long.

Apple was among the first to sell the mouse back in 1984, after the device was invented at the Stanford Research Institute. But experts predict the mouse won't disappear overnight with the introduction of the Magic Trackpad.

Computer magazine PC World recently featured a list of "four reasons Apple's Magic Trackpad won't kill the mouse." It cited wrist fatigue, which is caused by keeping fingertips off the pad to "avoid triggering multi-touch gestures"; its imprecision, especially for gaming; the inability to "click-and-lift" or hold down a mouse button while lifting and repositioning the mouse; and die-hard mouse habits that have come commonplace over the past two decades.