Soper also determined that the top trending topic on Twitter on Christmas day was #selfiestick. They were so popular that stores had a difficult time meeting the demand, and shortly after, Time magazine named the self-portrait aid one of the best inventions of the year.
But where did this invention get its start? Until very recently, most would have told you that Wayne Fromm brought it to the market in 2006. However, a recent finding in an old stock magazine shows that a rudimentary version of the selfie stick was actually invented by a Japanese camera company – in 1983.
At this time, the Japanese camera company, Minolta, brought to market the first version of the selfie stick in the form of the Minolta Disc-7. Of course, it wasn’t called the selfie stick. The Japanese name translates to mean “extender.”
Those who purchased the Minolta Disc-7 received the whole package. Flipped camera angles were barely a thought in the early eighties, so the camera came complete with a mirror on the face that allowed the user to see themselves before they snapped the picture. It also included a telescope-like rod with a simple clip to place your camera on the end (just like the selfie stick). You could then extend the rod in front of you and use a remote shutter button to take your own photo.
However, like many great inventions, the extender was years ahead of its time, and it was soon named a useless invention and flopped right off the market. At the time, people weren’t very interested in taking pictures of themselves without major social hubs to share the photos with their friends. The selfie stick was much better suited for today now that we have the technology necessary to make the invention not only useful but insanely popular.
Enter Wayne Fromm, who successfully capitalized on the timing to produce one of the most popular inventions of the day. He claims that he first thought of the idea for the selfie stick while on vacation in Florence, Italy in 2002. He and his daughter were looking to take a photo on a crowded bridge and asked a passerby to snap the picture. However, they couldn’t get a shot without someone walking in front of the camera. He lamented the fact that there wasn’t a device that would enable him to take a picture of both him and his daughter with a good view of the background.
Thus began the prototyping process of today’s selfie stick, which allows you to attach any smartphone or camera to an extendable rod to take a photo of yourself. When the rod was released to the market in 2006, it was an instant success.
Does the Japanese company have rights to claim the selfie stick? The jury is still out. It’s true that they had the idea first, but it can be argued that an invention doesn’t count if it’s not successful, and when the patenting license ran out, it was free game. It just goes to show that when it comes to success in inventing, it’s all about the timing.
