After 22 years of reviewing consumer technology products, Walt Mossberg has written his last column for The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and its All Things D tech blog. In it, Mossberg writes about the 12 devices he had reviewed over the past two decades that he thinks are most influential.
Included in his list are Windows 95, the Palm Pilot, Google's search engine and the iPhone.
However, one company's products notably dominate the list. Out of the 12 influential technology products Mossberg identified, five are from Apple: the Newton MessagePad, iPod, iPhone, Macbook Air and iPad. The only other company which has more than one entry in the list is Google for Google Search and Android.
"Apple introduced more influential, breakthrough products for average consumers than any other company over the years of this column," Mossberg explains of Apple's over-representation in his list.
The Newton MessagePad is the least known of the mentioned Apple products. The hand-held computer from 1993 was considered a failure because it fell short of its promise to flawlessly recognize handwriting but Mossberg says its early form of artificial intelligence foreshadowed some of the most cutting-edge technology used these days.
Here is the list of Mossberg's "top products in two decades of tech reviews":
1. Newton MessagePad (1993)
2. Netscape Navigator (1994)
3. Windows 95 (1995)
4. The Palm Pilot (1997)
5. Google Search (1998)
6. The iPod (2001)
7. Facebook (2004)
8. Twitter (2006)
9. The iPhone (2007)
10. Android (2008)
11. The MacBook Air (2008)
12. The iPad (2010)
Mossberg admits that while most of the entries in his most influential list were hits, some were not as successful. To come up with his list, he said he used two main things as criteria: the first is the products should have improved ease of use and added value for the consumers and the second is the products should have changed the course of digital history.
"I chose these 12 because each changed the course of digital history by influencing the products and services that followed, or by changing the way people lived and worked," Mossberg writes.
Mossberg is one of the most respected, influential and highest paid technology journalists in the world.
In 1999, Mossberg became the only technology journalist to win the Loeb award for Commentary. Two years later, he won the World Technology Award for Media and Journalism and was also the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Rhode Island.
In partnership with his fellow WSJ columnist Kara Swisher, Mossberg has also created, produced and hosted the publication's annual D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California. The conference, which was used as a platform by Mossberg and Swisher to interview famous personalities in the technology industry such as Steve Job, Bill Gates and Elon Musk, has grown to become popular and prestigious among the business and technology communities.
