PalmPilot 1000 (1996)

The PalmPilot 1000 was everything the Apple Newton MessagePad (#28) wanted to be: a "personal data assistant" small enough to fit in your shirt pocket, with enough RAM (128KB) to hold a then-impressive 500 names and addresses. The handwriting recognition actually worked (once you mastered the arcane Graffiti software), and best of all, you could sync your data with a PC or Mac desktop application. The brilliance of the Palm concept was its recognition that people wanted a supplement to their computers, not a substitute. Subsequent models grew smaller and more powerful, but were basically refinements to the original PalmPilot's elegant simplicity. PCW photo by Rick Rizner.