Friday, December 28,2007 @ 1:00pm
iPhone ousted by Google in innovation ranks
Despite its features, the iPhone is not the most innovative development of 2007, according to PC World's top 25 list for 2007. The magazine instead presents the top award to Google Gears, the search engine giant's platform that allows Mac and Windows users to run web apps such as Google Reader and Zoho Writer without an active Internet connection. Though still in beta, Gears is more innovative for eliminating one of the last obstacles to abandoning at least some desktop-based software in favor of downloads.
The iPhone occupies second place for its somewhat mixed capabilities, the magazine explains. The touchscreen interface is labeled "intuitive and fun," particularly for its Safari browser, but is hampered by a few technical limitations such as its slower EDGE Internet access. Apple also occupies fourth place on the list for the Time Machine feature in Mac OS X Leopard, which is said to simplify the normally complex task of backing up and restoring files.
Other highlights of the list include the One Laptop Per Child project's XO notebook at third place, the Amazon Kindle e-book reader (fifth), and HP's TouchSmart all-in-one PC. Web-only services such as Facebook's app platform or finance tracker Mint also dominate the bottom half of the 25-member chart.