TIME Crowns iPhone Most Influential Gadget of All Time

Most articles I write for iDrop News are drafted either on my MacBook Pro or iPad. This article, however, was written from start to finish using the most influential gadget of all time, at least according to TIME Magazine. If you read the headline, you’re aware the iPhone was recently crowned with the honor.

In many ways, TIME’s decision isn’t all that surprising. There is simply no other product that has come close to influencing the way so many people do so many things. Personally, I never dreamed a decade ago it would be possible to write an article walking outside on the sidewalks of my neighborhood. But that’s exactly what just happened.

TIME Magazine published a list ranking the 50 most influential gadgets of all time and awarded the iPhone the top spot because it “fundamentally changed our relationship to computing and information, popularized mobile apps and influenced the future of smartphone design.” It is quite remarkable Apple managed to revolutionize so many mediums with just one product.

Apple ushered in a new era with the iPhone. The company created a personal computing device, which became an extension of the user; something the late Steve Jobs was fond of saying. Flat, touchscreen phones became the norm and “smartphones” with slide out keyboards and static buttons all but disappeared after the iPhone.

The product also marked the culmination of Apple’s rise from near extinction to the most profitable company in the world. It seemed Steve Jobs and others at Apple knew they were onto something special with the iPhone well before the rest of us understood its potential. The iPhone caused a complete shift in not just the smartphone world but the personal computer industry as a whole. Apple was the first company to put a powerful computer in millions of pockets and the company hasn’t looked back.

Of course the iPhone wasn’t the only Apple device to make the list. In fact, the Macintosh came in at number three for setting the standard for “the way human beings interact with computers.” Still in the top ten, the iPod, the device that inspired the iPhone, came in at number nine.

The iBook and the iPad were the other two Apple products to make the list. The iPad took the 25th spot for being “radically different” than other tablets that came before it. And the iBook, the first laptop to feature wireless networking, ranked at number 38.

It is a remarkable accomplishment for a single company to secure 10 percent of the spots on TIME’s list of the most influential gadgets of all time. It’s a testament to the decades of innovation to come out of Cupertino. I for one am keeping my fingers crossed that we get a few more game changing products from Apple in the coming years. Hopefully one will have a steering wheel.

The full list contains other well know products like Google Glass, Fitbit, Amazon Kindle, Oculus Rift and the Sony Walkman to name a few.

Why do you think the iPhone is influential? Let us know in the comments.