Mad Catz Interactive today announced that it has begun shipping across North America the long-awaited new lifestyle-oriented Wireless ‘litetouch’ Keyboard, being released under the Company’s Eclipse brand.

Announced to strong critical and consumer interest at the 2010 CES show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the new range of litetouch Keyboards feature the industry’s first backlit, re-configurable, touch-sensitive LCD 3-in-1 touch panel which allow consumers to access media shortcuts, favorite websites and open applications at the touch of a button.

At home in both the living room and the office, the highly versatile Eclipse Wireless litetouch Keyboard fuses state-of-the-art technology with minimalist design, producing a keyboard which places the user at the center of the experience, no matter what the task at hand.

Communicating over a wireless 2.4GHz connection, the litetouch Keyboard features an integrated 360° trackball with left and right mouse buttons, negating the need for a separate mouse and proving ideal for living room internet surfing.  Low profile backlit quiettouch scissor keys combine with intelligent power control, reducing eye strain, extending battery life and allowing users to operate in a dimmed environment.

Located to the right of the physical scissor keys, the unique litetouch LCD 3-in-1 touch panel provides the user with highly configurable control over their media needs.  With a single press, the LCD 3-in-1 touch panel switches between media mode, numerical-pad mode and ‘MyEclipse ‘ mode, providing the user with a host of commands which can be used to provide dedicated controls for a multitude of activities from replicating a simple office calculator to controlling a complex media center configuration.

When the LCD 3-in-1 touch panel is set to MyEclipse mode, consumers personalize the touch panel to access their favorite websites and applications.  Displaying 12 pre-defined icons covering topics such as shopping, finance, health and entertainment, users can assign each icon with their favorite websites, applications, games, and much more.  Consumers can assign up to a maximum of three individual websites along with an application of their choice to each icon, all of which will open at the same time and all at the touch of just one button.  In addition, the MyEclipse mode provides 5 numbered buttons which the user can choose to cover any topic not already included in the pre-defined icons.

Powered by an internal rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, the Wireless litetouch Keyboard provides up to 20 hours of use between charges.  The Wireless litetouch Keyboard is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP .

Mad Catz will be launching both a wireless and wired version of the keyboard priced at $129 and $99 respectively.