the most popular, most quickly adopted gadget in history

[Mark]

What piece of consumer electronics technology was the fastest to gain consumer acceptance? According to a Consumer Electronics Association survey, the answer isn't the color TV or cell phone. It's the boombox.

The boombox found its way into just over 60% of households by its seventh year on the market. A handful of other technologies were quick to gain acceptance in the same time span of seven years, though none surpassed the speed at which the boombox did. CD players were in about 55% of households, DVD players were in about 50%, and VCRs were in about 40%.

Some of the slowest to be adopted technologies actually wound up being some of the most popular, at least for a while. Just about everyone had an answering machine at one point, but only 20% had one after the first seven years the gadget was on the market. Cordless phones were in about 14% of households, while cell phones were only used by about 10%.

One of the slowest techs to be widely adopted? The color TV, which had barely a 1% adoption rate. source

[DiamondLil]

Interesting. We have all of the above items except a boom box. I never had a desire for one.

[Luray]

I have two! Although I'd hardly call them "technology", LOL. Just a tape player; the only improvement a boombox had over earlier tape players was the stereo sound.