Apple Powerbook Named Numero UnoGadget
What does an Apple laptop have in common with a Sony Walkman, an Atari 2600, and a Swiss Army Knife? Well all of the above charted on Mobile PC magazine's illustrious greatest gadgets top list.
No, it'snot the iPod. The Apple invention in question is the Powerbook100. The U.S. magazine Mobile PC recently named the pioneeringlaptop the greatest gadget to infinity.
The original Powerbookreceived this honor because in 1991 it led the industry chargetoward computers that were light enough to tote around. The Apple laptop helped to spawn future generations of notebooks, manyof which inherited much of the Powerbook 100's design and layout- its nose and eyes if you will.
The Powerbook beat out such other "gadgets" as the Sony Walkman(#3), the Motorola Startac (#4), the Atari 2600 (#9), and, yes,the iPod (#12). The magazine also included such neolithicinventions as the Swiss Army Knife (#20), the telephone (#23),the abacus (#60), and the Pez dispenser (#98).
To make the list, gadgets had to possess moving parts and/orelectronics. They had to "self-contained," able to be "used onits own," "potentially mobile, and not "a subset of anotherdevice."
The list is sure to create discussion, if not bar room brawls.But Apple willsurely not contest it. The accolade is one more footnote to itsmystique as the most innovative and relevant technology companyof all time. It's one more log to stoke the fire under theirstock ticker.
