Time Magazine's invention of the year.

Time magazine have named Apple's iPhone as the
'invention of the year'.

The publication gave five reasons for naming the iPhone as 2007's top breakthrough.

"Yes, there's been a lot of hype written about the iPhone, and a lot of guff too. So much so that it seems weird to add more, after Danny Fanboy and Bobby McBlogger have had their day. But when that day is over, Apple's iPhone is still the best thing invented this year," writes Time.

The Reasons:

Time magazines reason number one:
The way the iPhone looks, "Most high-tech companies don't take design seriously. They treat it as an afterthought."

Time magazines reason number two:
How tactile the iPhone is, "Apple's engineers used the touchscreen to innovate past the graphical user interface to create a whole new kind of interface, a tactile one that gives users the illusion of actually physically manipulating data with their hands"

Time magazines reason number three:
It will lead to better phones being made, "AT&T gave Apple unprecedented freedom to build the iPhone to its own specifications. Now other phone makers are jealous. They're demanding the same freedoms. That means better, more innovative phones for all."

Time magazines reason number four:
It's a platform not just a phone, "when apple made the iphone, it didn't throw together some cheap-o bare-bones firmware. It took OS X, its full-featured desktop operating system, and somehow squished it down to fit inside the iPhone's elegant glass-and-stainless-steel case."

Time magazines reason number five:
The ghost of iPhones yet to come, "it'll be around for a while, and with all that room to develop and its infinitely updatable, all-software interface, the iPhone is built to evolve."

Due to be released in the UK on November the 9th, the iPhone will be available for sale from O2, Apple retail and Carphone Warehouse stores.

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