Mikey Campbell
TIME Magazine named Apple's iPhone the most influential gadget of all time in a list published Tuesday, which included a variety of tech products from the likes of Sony, IBM, HP and other big-name players.
Picked by TIME editors, the "50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time" runs the gamut of tech products, from home computers to game consoles to portable electronics. A few of the companies — and most devices — are no longer in existence, but their impact has rippled through to industry contemporaries, some of which made it on the list themselves.
While iPhone sits in the No. 1 spot, the honor actually goes to Apple's mobile ecosystem. The device itself introduced millions to what is generally considered to be the first viable smartphone platform, but more impactful was the 2008 launch of Apple's App Store for iPhone OS (rebranded iOS in 2010).
"The iPhone popularized the mobile app, forever changing how we communicate, play games, shop, work, and complete many everyday tasks," TIME writes, adding that iPhone marked a fundamental shift in computing.
Apple's original Macintosh and iPod also made the top 10, coming in at No. 3 and No. 9, respectively. Sony scored two top-5 spots with the No. 2 Trinitron television set and No. 4 Walkman, a device on which iPod iterated. Two more Apple devices were deemed influential enough for inclusion on the list, with the iPad sitting at No. 25 and iBook at No. 38.
Coming in fifth was IBM's Model 5150, followed by the Victrola record player, Regency TR-1 transistor radio and Kodak Brownie camera. Hitachi's Magic Wand massager-cum-vibrator rounded out the top 10.
Perhaps most interesting for Apple fans are the product categories and technologies iPhone effectively rendered obsolete, had a hand in killing or assimilated as value-added functionality. For example, Palm's Pilot PDA made the list, as did the BlackBerry 6210 and Nokia's 3210 candybar cellphone. TomTom's first GPS, JVC's VideoMovie Camcorder and Motorola's Bravo pager also ranked. Apple's iOS swooped in and gobbled up a large chunk of Nintendo's portable gaming market — represented in the list by Game Boy — though the Japanese brand is still mostly alive.
Apple's influence can be seen elsewhere on TIME's top 50 in competing devices like Motorola's Droid, which was included for its role in popularizing Google's Android operating system. Connected devices like the Nest Learning Thermostat and Fitbit wearables also made the cut.
The list also serves as a reminder that Apple still has room to innovate. The Jerrold cable box landed in 33rd place.
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
Charles Martin
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Wesley Hilliard
34 Comments
yeah! I have to agree with this. The main reason is that Apple phones are easier to use as compared to some other phones. Even my grandmother knows how to use her iPhone 5 :D
Of course it is.
Nothing influences the trolls & haters more than an article about Apple or the iPhone.
I agree with this!
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If not for the iPhone, then ALL smartphones would be very different today. They would look, feel and function very differently.
Anybody who uses any type of smartphone today should thank Apple and Steve Jobs every single time that they pick up their phone.
The iPhone changed the game. The iPhone changed the world. Nuff said.
Actually think the App Store's introduction in 2008, finally opening the doors for a mobile application marketplace to a mass audience, was the real genius of the iPhone. Think of it akin to the introduction of an early calculator with only buttons for 0-9 and a 'clear' button, then someone having the idea of not only adding functions for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but also opening a market for 3rd parties to add whatever functions they could imagine themselves. Much like the iTunes store for music proved what was capable with the iPod with its launch in April, 2003, the iPhone's true capabilities came to fruition the day the App Store was launched in July, 2008.
P.S. Anyone remember 'Software Dispatch'? :)