Around the same period, Steve Jobs was also looking for an innovative input system for his forthcoming Apple systems, and considered the mouse to be just it. For this reason, he commissioned design firm Hovey-Kelley to create an inexpensive, mass-producible and quite reliable mouse.
The result made its way to the market in 1983, with Apple's Lisa system. Its key components included the optical encoder wheels, a free-moving tracking ball, and a precision injection-molded inner frame. It also used a squeeze-release DE-9 connector and only one button, which remained one of the most famous trademarks of Apple mice for years to come.
A year later, in 1984, Apple came up with a completely re-designed peripheral, which was to accompany its Macintosh systems in their path to market domination. The system featured a nine pin DE-9 connector with thumb screws to secure the connector in place, but worked pretty much in the same way as its predecessor.
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