The ergonomic thingamajig that Apple submitted for patent is turning out to be the last thing Apple fan-boys would ever guess it to be: a multitouch mouse cum keyboard gadget. Just what your office cubicle needed – another expensive way to get carpal tunnel, from your friends at Apple!

Seriously, the patent (long believed by Apple true believers to be a new tablet computer) is just another way of getting data into existing Apple computers; not as sexy, but just as useful.

Turns out that input with a stylus, keyboard, or mouse can be duplicated with the right kind of touch-sensitive technology – an insight that Apple seems to have glommed onto with its new patent.

The patent application, filed by Morrison and Foerster LLP, describes a hand-based system that permits “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device,” reports the AppleInsider blog. read more

“Many attempts have been made to embed pointing devices in a keyboard so the hands do not have to leave typing position to access the pointing device… The limited movement range and resolution of these devices, leads to poorer pointing speed and accuracy than a mouse, and they add mechanical complexity to keyboard construction,” the application reads. “Thus there exists a need in the art for pointing methods with higher resolution, larger movement range, and more degrees of freedom yet which are easily accessible from typing hand positions.”

Once implemented, the new mouse would be able to distinguish ten fingers and separate palms, allowing the user to type, write, and draw with the device.

Amazon’s Kindle was last heard breathing a sigh of relief. And millions of Apple fanboys around the world were last seen drooling with anticipation. First a Herman Miller cubicle, then an ergonomic mesh chair, then this Apple… thing! The ergonomically fashionable circle… completed!