Computer 'finest idea of century'

The computer was the leading invention of the past century, according to Hong Kong people who rated it one place ahead of the mobile phone.

The computer won most votes in a poll to select the favourite invention of the 20th century.

The poll was organised by the Intellectual Property Department and the Hong Kong Inventors Association.

About 3,500 people chose their top 10 inventions.

The computer secured first place with 2,566 votes, or 84 per cent of the total count of 3,071, followed by the mobile phone with 2,075 votes.

'This probably shows that people can't do without computers, while mobile phones can be bothersome sometimes,' said Peter Cheung Kam-fai, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Department.