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TIME declare iPhone most influential gadget of all time

TIME Magazine has published a list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time, and sitting proudly at the top of the tree is Apple’s iPhone.

The iPhone was singled out because it “ushered in a new era of flat, touchscreen phones,” though the reason it’s so influential is thanks to the huge success of the App Store. “The iPhone popularized the mobile app, forever changing how we communicate, play games, shop, work, and complete many everyday tasks.”

Five Apple products made the top 50 – with three gadgets padding out the top 10 – in a list comprising cellphones, cameras, TVs, games consoles and other culturally significant gadgets. At number 38, we have the Apple’s colorful laptop computer, the iBook, chosen for showing the world that “Wi-Fi was here to stay” back in 1999. Number 25 is the iPad, which TIME notes went on to “dominate the market” despite launching eight years after Microsoft’s clunky first tablet.

Higher up at number 9 is the iPod, the gadget that “convinced music fans to upgrade from their CD players en masse,” giving the music industry a shot in the arm with the launch of the iTunes Store. The original Apple Macintosh takes the number 3 spot, a machine that set computing standards with its “graphical user interface, easy-to-use mouse and overall friendly appearance.”

It goes to show the influence Apple has had on the world in these past few decades. The influence of Apple products – the iPhone in particular – is frankly astonishing. You can read the full list on the TIME website. It’s a fascinating look back at decades of formative technology.