Opening Thoughts ight© Copyr ion Top Products in Twcoia Dl Deicstaridbeuts mmer download, or Co d users can r Sale d. Authorise se Not fo ofu sTe perohcibhitenologyr p eRrsoenavl u iew nauthorised ingle copy fo U and print a s display, view Newton MessagePad (1993) This hand-held computer from Apple was a failure, even a joke, mainly because the com- pany promised it could flawlessly recognize (1994) handwriting. It didn't. But it had one feature that foreshadowed some of today’s most cut- The first successful consumer Web ting-edge technology: it possessed an early browser, it was later crushed by Mi - form of artificial intelligence. You could crosoft’s Internet Explorer. But it scrawl “lunch with Linda Jones on Thursday” made the Web a reality for millions and it would create a calendar entry for the and its influence has been incalcula - right time with the right person. ble. Every time you go to a Web page, you are seeing the legacy of Netscape in action. Windows 95 (1995) This was the Microsoft operating system that The Palm Pilot (1997) cemented the graphical user interface and the The first successful personal digital assistant, mouse as the way to op - the Pilot was also the first hand-held computer erate a computer. While to be widely adopted. It led to one of the first Apple’s Macintosh had been using the sys - smartphones, the Treo, and attracted a library tem for a decade and cruder versions of of third-party apps, foreshadowing today’s Windows had followed, Windows 95 was giant app stores. much more refined and spread to a vastly larger audience than the Mac did. The iPod (2001) (1998) Apple’s iPod was the first main - stream digital media player The minute you used Google, it was obvious it was able, to hold 1,000 songs in a much faster and more accurate than previous device the size of a deck of play - search engines. It’s impossible to overstate its im - ing cards. It lifted the struggling portance, even today. In many ways, Google computer maker to a new level and led to the wildly success - search propelled the entire Web. ful iTunes store and a line of popular mobile devices. Canadian Pharmaceutical Marketing l February/March 2014 3 Opening Thoughts (2004) Twitter (2006) Often seen as Facebook’s Just as Netscape opened the Web, Facebook made the chief competitor, Twitter is Internet into a social medium. Though there were some really something different earlier social networks, Facebook became the social net- — a sort of global instant- work of choice, a place where you could share every - messaging system. It is thing from a photo of a sunset to the news of a birth or used every second to alert huge audiences to every - death with a few friends or with hundreds of thousands. thing from revolutions to interesting Web posts, or Today, over a billion people use it and it has changed just to offer opinions on almost anything — as long the entire concept of the Internet. as they fit in 140 characters. Like Facebook, it has changed the way people live digitally. The iPhone (2007) Android (2008) Apple electrified the tech world with this device — the first truly smart Google quickly jumped into the mo - smartphone. It is an iPod, an Inter - bile world the iPhone created with net device, and a phone combined this operating system that has spread in one small gadget. Its revolution - to hundreds of devices using the ary multi-touch user interface is gradually replacing the same type of multi-touch interface. PC’s graphical user interface on many devices. Android is now the dominant smartphone platform, with its own huge selection of apps. A year after it was introduced, it was joined by the App Store, which allowed third-party developers to sell pro - While iPhones have remained relatively pricey, grams, or apps, for the phone. They now number about Android is powering much less costly phones. a million. It has spawned many competitors that have col - lectively moved the Internet from a PC-centric system to a mobile-centric one. The iPad (2010) With this 10-inch tablet, Apple The MacBook Air finally cracked the code on the (2008) long-languishing tablet cate- gory. Along with other tablets, The late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs introduced this it is gradually replacing the lap- iconic, slim, light laptop by pulling it out of a standard top for many uses, and it is popular with everyone manila envelope. It was one of the first computers to from kids to CEOs. Developers have created nearly ditch the hard disk for solid-state storage and now can 500,000 apps for the iPad, far more than for any other be seen all over — on office desks, on campuses, and at tablet. coffee shops. It spawned a raft of Windows-based light laptops called Ultrabooks. CPM * Source: The Wall Street Journal. “Top Products in Two Decades of Technology Review. Walt Mossberg on the Products that Changed the Digital Industry.” by Walt Mossberg, Dec. 17, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304858104579264313155801216?mod= WSJ_hpsMIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond. Accessed: December 19, 2013. 4 Canadian Pharmaceutical Marketing l February/March 2014.