The App Store is little more than a rebranding exercise. But it's been perfectly implemented, and only Apple could have pulled it off.

2. Touchscreens That Work

How easily we forget.

Before the iPhone popularized , any device branded as "touch capable" usually came with a stylus--a pen without ink that was used to write on the screen. These were small and easily lost, leading to expired ballpoints often being used as replacements, or even household keys.

Ouch! It was a less than perfect situation, and is probably why touchscreens never found much use beyond specialized hardware, such as Palm PDAs.