Time: iPhone is Most Influential Gadget

Time Magazine lists what it believes are the "50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time"-- and puts the iPhone at the very top due to being the first "truly powerful computer in the pockets of millions."

iPhoneAs the magazine puts it, while smartphones were a device category before the 2007 iPhone launch, the Apple offering easily beat the rest by replacing buttons and slide-out keyboards with a flat touchscreen. Arguably just as significant is the 2008 introduction of the App Store, "forever changing how we communicate, play games, shop, work, and complete many everyday tasks."

Apple holds 2 other positions in the top 10 listing-- the original Macintosh comes at #3, while the iPod is at #9. Other Apple devices making the top 50 are the iPad (#25) and the iBook (#38).

Making the rest of the top 10 are the Sony Trinitron TV, the Sony Walkman, the IBM Model 5150, the Victrola record player, the Regency TR-1  transistor radio, the Kodak Brownie camera and the Hitachi Magic Wand vibrator/vibrator.

Other notable entries in the list include devices whose category has been effectively killed (or significantly diminished) by the iPhone. Some of these are obvious, such as the Palm Pilot PDA, the BlackBerry 6210 and the Nokia 3210, but other casualties include the GPS (represented by the TomTom GPS), the camcorder (JVC VideoMovie), the pager (Motorola Bravo) and portable games consoles (the Game Boy).

Meanwhile other devices suggest what is yet to come, be it the Google Glass, the Makerbot Replicator 3D printer, the Oculus Rift VR headset and the DJI Phantom drone.

Go The 50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time