“Time” magazine has selected the “The 10 Best Gadgets of the 2010s” featuring gadgets that made their appearance in the current decade. Apple has three entries on the list of ten.
The devices on the list include the “decade’s most important and influential gadgets” from all of the major technology companies, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The only firm to be listed more than once is Apple, with its three devices.
While the list is a “top ten” list, it isn’t a ranked type of list, and Time doesn’t number the list.
“[They] tell the story of a new way of thinking, a slow-moving paradigm shift set to change the way we approach the personal technology we interact with on a daily basis,” says Time.
The iPad is the first Apple device on the list.
“Before the iPad’s introduction in 2010, the idea of a ‘tablet computer’ was mostly relegated to slick science fiction movies and unwieldy laptop-adjacent monstrosities running terrible software,” says Time. “Apple’s iPad — like the iPhone before it — resulted in a cultural shift for personal computing, and set the tone for the next decade of portable devices.”
Time mentions that while competitors have had “ample time” to catch up with Apple’s iPad, they haven’t. The publication makes a similar point about the next Apple device on the list, the Apple Watch.
“While many have tried, no one has been able to match the polish and performance of the Apple Watch, which set the standard for what a smartwatch could do,” says Time.
The third and final Apple entry on the list is an accessory that Time says “quickly became an icon in their own right.” Of course, we’re talking about Apple’s uber-popular AirPods wireless earpods.
“AirPods even carry social significance,” the magazine continues, “transforming them into earbuds that double as a not-so-subtle status indicator.”
Other entries on the list include Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller, Tesla’s Model S Car, the Raspberry Pi, Google Chromecast, Amazon Echo, and the Nintendo Switch.