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First USB Thumbdrive Released
While the origins of who created the first thumb drive have been hotly debated, in 2000, Singaporean technology company Trek released the TREK 2000 which was the first Thumb drive available on the market. Boasting a robust 8mb on a SSD in 2000 was a big deal and it didn't take competitors long to come out with their own version in addition to advancing the technology to where a single thumb drive by 2009 could hold 128 gigabytes of data. -
Windows XP is Released
Windows releases their Operating System with a major overhaul to update GUI for the new Millennium. We all remember the overstated colors, multiple user profiles, updated Internet Explorer system, and of course the green rolling hills of the standard XP wallpaper. -
Xbox Console Released
Microsoft takes their first step into the gaming market with the Xbox console in 2001. With robust support for online gaming, games such as Halo 2 became wildly popular and led to the success of the system and online gaming overall. While easily outselling the Nintendo GameCube and Sega DreamCast, the Xbox still paled in comparison to the overall units sold for the PlayStation 2. -
RIM Releases first SmartPhone - BlackBerry 8510
Prior to smartphones such as iphones and Androids, the business world relied on BlackBerrys to check e-mails, browse compatible web-pages, and use personal planner functions. Research In Motion (RIM) (BlackBerry's manufacturer) had a strangle hold on the smartphone market well into the late 2000's prior to iphone and Android smartphones implementing business friendly apps and features which made the BlackBerry all but obsolete. -
Apple iPhone is Released
While certainly not the first touchscreen phone on the market, this was the most anticipated and had the cleanest user interface for the time. The iPhone was an instant hit and status symbol among techies and normal cell phone users alike. It is not hyperbole to say that the iphone redefined and forever changed the mobile phone market. -
First Smartphone with Android OS is Released
The HTC Dream was the first smartphone released that ran the Android software. Google bought the rights to Android in 2005 and by 2009 had their first phone on the market. Since then, both Android and Apple OS have been the main OS in a majority of phones on the market in the US.