Management - Consumer Electronics

 Twenty key inventions of the last 25 years

Car phones were around in the 1970s, but it wasn't until 1983 that Motorola introduced the first widely available handheld cellphone, the DynaTAC 8000x.

Laptop computers

The 28-pound Compaq Portable - Compaq Computer's very first product - was the first portable IBM-compatible PC on the market.

BlackBerries

A Canadian pager company, Research In Motion, shortened attention spans around the world with the launch of the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device in 1999.

Debit cards

Ka-ching! Who needs cash when you've got a debit card? They took off after visa launched its check card in 1995.

Caller ID

Bill collectors are easy to ignore with this invention introduced by BellSouth in 1984 in Orlando.

DVDs

Americans traded all those hours rewinding video cassettes for hours with the introduction of digital video discs in 1995.

Lithium rechargeable batteries

How many As does it take to power a laptop? Almost no one knows, thanks to the durable rechargeable battery Sony brought to market in 1991.

iPods

Walking down the sidewalk hasn't been the same.since November 2001, when Apple introduced its iconic portable digital music player.

Pay at the pump

A gas station chain in Abilene, Texas, invented technology that turned the pump into a quasi-ATM.

Lettuce in a bag

Fresh Express in California, rolled out mixed lettuce greens in a high-tech plastic bag in 1989.

Digital cameras

Kodak unveiled a digital camera for professionals in 1986. Apple followed with the first consumer version eight years later.

Doppler radar

USA became a nation of weather fans as Doppler radar brought up-to-the-minute images to TV starting in 1990.

Flat-panel TVs

RCA pioneered flat-panel technology in the Iate 1960& But it took nearly four decades before consumers got the idea.

Electronic tolls

Throwing quarters in a tollbooth bin became a thing of the past when the North Texas Tollway Authority started its TollTag system in the Dallas area in 1989.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint was invented by Forethought. Microsoft bought Forethought in 1987, unveiled its Windows version in 1990 and changed public speaking forever.

Microwavable popcorn

General Mills paved the way with the launch of Act II non-refrigerated microwaveable popcorn in 1984.

High-tech footwear

Plain canvas sneakers got tossed to the back of the closet when Nike launched Air Jordans in 1985, followed by Reebok's The Pump in 1989.