過去22年來為華爾街日報撰寫科技專欄的「莫博士」莫斯柏格（Walter S. Mossberg），在揮別該報的告別作中，回顧這些年來影響力最大的12項個人科技產品，其中蘋果就占了五項，顯示比其他同業更能推出具影響力與突破性的消費電子產品。
這份產品名單根據兩個條件選出。一是改善使用舒適度，並使消費者普遍受益。二是左右數位歷史發展的方向，影響後續的產品和服務，或改變人們工作與生活方式。以下是脫穎而出的產品：
●牛頓掌上型電腦（Newton MessagePad，1993年）：這款產品是蘋果公司的失敗之作，甚至淪為笑柄，因為並未展現完美的手寫辨識功能。不過，它具備初階的人工智慧，成為現代尖端科技的先驅。
●網景領航員瀏覽器（1994年）：第一個成功的消費者網頁瀏覽器，讓數百萬人上網的願望成真，影響力無法估量。
●Windows 95作業系統（1995年）：最早結合圖形使用者介面和滑鼠的微軟電腦作業系統。雖然蘋果麥金塔電腦採用這種系統由來已久，Windows 95更優良，用戶遠超過蘋果。
●Palm Pilot（1997年）：第一款成功的個人數位助理（PDA）與大受歡迎的手持電腦。它催生第一支智慧手機Treo ，並吸引眾多第三方應用程式（App）軟體開發商效力。
●Google搜尋引擎（1998年）：速度和準確度都大勝其他搜尋引擎，重要性不言而喻。從各方面來看，Google搜尋引擎加快了整體網路發展。
●iPod（2001年）：數位媒體播放器的先驅，讓蘋果從搖搖欲墜的電腦製造商，搖身一變成為跨足全新領域的可攜式電子裝置巨人，也催生iTunes商店與一系列受歡迎的行動裝置。
●臉書（2004年）：讓網路成為社交工具，革新網路的整體概念。在它之前雖已有別的社群網絡，但臉書卻成為其中的首選，也是能分享日常生活的空間。現在全球有超過10億名用戶。
●推特（2006年）：好比全球即時通訊系統，每則只能寫短短140個字元，用戶可隨時交流資訊與意見。它和臉書一樣，改變人類的數位生活方式。
●iPhone（2007年）：第一支貨真價實的智慧手機，結合iPod、聯網裝置與電話的功能，其革命性的多點觸控介面，正逐漸取代許多裝置的圖形使用者介面。它也帶動App軟體商店林立。
●Android作業系統（2008年）：Google進軍行動領域的代表作，同樣採多點觸控使用者介面，如今已是舉足輕重的智慧手機平台。
●MacBook Air（2008年）：已故蘋果執行長賈伯斯推出的超薄筆電，率先捨棄硬碟、採用固態硬碟（SSS）的電腦之一，帶動許多採Windows系統的超薄筆電Ultrabook誕生。我心目中最棒的筆電。
●iPad（2010年）：蘋果推出這台10吋裝置，為之前遲遲無法起飛的平板電腦市場帶來生機，如今它正逐漸取代傳統筆電。目前市面上有近50萬個iPad App，傲視其他平板電腦。
Top Products in Two Decades of Tech Reviews
Walt Mossberg on the products that changed the digital industry
Dec. 17, 2013 The Wall Street Journal
This is my last column for The Wall Street Journal, after 22 years of reviewing consumer technology products here.
So I thought I'd talk about the dozen personal-technology products I reviewed that were most influential over the past two decades. Obviously, narrowing so many products in the most dynamic of modern industries down to 12 is a subjective exercise and others will disagree.dustry
Though most were hits, a couple weren't blockbusters, financially, and one was an outright flop. Instead, I used as my criteria two main things.
First, the products had to improve ease of use and add value for average consumers. That was the guiding principle I laid down in the first sentence of my first column, in 1991: "Personal computers are just too hard to use, and it's not your fault."
Second, 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. In some cases, the impact of these mass-market products is still unfolding. All of these products had predecessors, but they managed to take their categories to a new level.
Some readers will complain that Apple in Your Value Your Change Short position is overrepresented. My answer: Apple introduced more influential, breakthrough products for average consumers than any other company over the years of this column.
1. Newton MessagePad (1993)
Newton MessagePad foreshadowed some of today's most cutting-edge technology. SSPL via Getty Images
This hand-held computer from Apple was a failure, even a joke, mainly because the company promised it could flawlessly recognize handwriting. It didn't. But it had one feature that foreshadowed some of today's most cutting-edge technology: an early form of artificial intelligence. You could scrawl "lunch with Linda Jones on Thursday" and it would create a calendar entry for the right time with the right person.
2. Netscape Navigator (1994)
The first successful consumer Web browser, it was later crushed by Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But it made the Web a reality for millions and its influence has been incalculable. Every time you go to a Web page, you are seeing the legacy of Netscape in action.
3. Windows 95 (1995)
Windows 95 made the mouse a mainstay for computer users. Associated Press
This was the Microsoft operating system that cemented the graphical user interface and the mouse as the way to operate a computer. While Apple's Macintosh had been using the system for a decade and cruder versions of Windows had followed, Windows 95 was much more refined and spread to a vastly larger audience than the Mac did.
4. The Palm Pilot (1997)
The Palm Pilot led to one of the first smartphones, the Treo. SSPL via Getty Images
The first successful personal digital assistant, the Pilot was also the first hand-held computer to be widely adopted. It led to one of the first smartphones, the Treo, and attracted a library of third-party apps, foreshadowing today's giant app stores.
5. Google in Your Value Your Change Short position Search (1998)
From the start, Google was faster than its predecessors. Getty Images
The minute I used Google, it was obvious it was much faster and more accurate than previous search engines. It's impossible to overstate its importance, even today. In many ways, Google search propelled the entire Web.
6. The iPod (2001)
Apple's iPod was the first mainstream digital media player. Apple
Apple's iPod was the first mainstream digital media player, able to hold 1,000 songs in a device the size of a deck of playing cards. It lifted the struggling computer maker to a new level and led to the wildly successful iTunes store and a line of popular mobile devices. (Apple Brings Design Flair To Its Digital Music Player 11/1/2001)
7. Facebook Your Value Your Change Short position (2004)
Just as Netscape opened the Web, Facebook made the Internet into a social medium. There were some earlier social networks. But Facebook became the social network of choice, a place where you could share everything from a photo of a sunset to the news of a birth or death with a few friends, or with hundreds of thousands. Today, over a billion people use it and it has changed the entire concept of the Internet.
8. Twitter (2006)
Like Facebook, Twitter changed the way people live digitally. AFP/Getty Images
Often seen as Facebook's chief competitor, Twitter is really something different—a sort of global instant-messaging system. It is used every second to alert huge audiences to everything from revolutions to interesting Web posts, or just to offer opinions on almost anything—as long as they fit in 140 characters. Like Facebook, it has changed the way people live digitally.
9. The iPhone (2007)
The iPhone was the first truly smart smartphone. AFP/Getty Images
Apple electrified the tech world with this device—the first truly smart smartphone. It is an iPod, an Internet device and a phone combined in one small gadget. Its revolutionary multi-touch user interface is gradually replacing the PC's graphical user interface on many devices.
A year after it was introduced, it was joined by the App Store, which allowed third-party developers to sell programs, or apps, for the phone. They now number about a million. It has spawned many competitors that have collectively moved the Internet from a PC-centric system to a mobile-centric one. (BlackJack Beats Out Palm 750, but iPhone May Well Top Both 1/11/2007)
10. Android (2008)
Google quickly jumped into the mobile world the iPhone created with this operating system that has spread to hundreds of devices using the same type of multi-touch interface. Android is now the dominant smartphone platform, with its own huge selection of apps.
While iPhones have remained relatively pricey, Android is powering much less costly phones. (Google Answers the iPhone 10/16/2008)
11. The MacBook Air (2008)
The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced this iconic slim, light laptop by pulling it out of a standard manila envelope. It was one of the first computers to ditch the hard disk for solid-state storage and now can be seen all over—on office desks, on campuses and at coffee shops. It spawned a raft of Windows-based light laptops called Ultrabooks. I consider it the best laptop ever made.(Apple's MacBook Air Is Beautiful and Thin, But Omits Features 1/24/2008)
12. The iPad (2010)
With this 10-inch tablet, Apple finally cracked the code on the long-languishing tablet category. Along with other tablets, it is gradually replacing the laptop for many uses and is popular with everyone from kids to CEOs. Developers have created nearly 500,000 apps for the iPad, far more than for any other tablet. (Laptop Killer? Pretty Close 4/1/2010)
***
As I sign off from this column, I want to thank The Wall Street Journal for giving me the freedom to write these reviews all these years. And I especially owe great thanks to the readers who have followed my work. I am not retiring—I will still be doing reviews on a new online site. And the Journal will continue to offer tech reviews, penned by talented successors, which will continue to guide readers as consumer technology evolves.
Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com
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