There were other timers before (one was basically a digital scale), but the cost and number of units of this timer model was certainly a huge boon. That said,

There were other timers before (one was basically a digital scale), but the cost and number of units of this timer model was certainly a huge boon. That said, there were some exceedingly smart cookies in the early speedcubing scene, and you know, necessity is the mother of invention :)