Apple Wireless Keyboard (2003)
Apple's first cable-free keyboard: Bluetooth with anti-interference technology, four AA batteries and the white-and-clear design of the era.
© Adder3824 · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ Resized, no crop or retouching.
Specs
| Connectivity | Bluetooth with Adaptive Frequency Hopping, 128-bit encryption, range up to 30 feet |
| Power | 4 AA batteries, up to 9 months of use |
| Key feature | Apple's first wireless keyboard (A1016) |
Launch
Apple introduced it on September 16, 2003 at Apple Expo in Paris, alongside the Apple Wireless Mouse, per its official press release. It cost $69 and would reach stores within two weeks; it required Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later and a Bluetooth adapter, built-in or external. Per Wikipedia, it was model A1016, derived from the wired Apple Keyboard A1048, with white keys in a clear plastic shell.
Marketing
The official release stressed that Apple was the first to deliver Adaptive Frequency Hopping software, which avoided interference with other wireless networks, and quoted Philip Schiller: Apple had pioneered integrating Bluetooth into Mac OS X and making it standard on its professional notebooks, and the new keyboard was an elegant way to clear cables from the desk. The keyboard promised up to nine months on four AA batteries and 128-bit encryption while typing.
Flaws and fixes
Unlike the wired model it derived from, it had no USB ports for connecting other devices, per Wikipedia. The line was redesigned in August 2007 with a thinner aluminium version without a numeric keypad, and the Wireless Keyboard name lasted until 2015, when the Magic Keyboard succeeded it, per Wikipedia.