The selfie stick which was considered as one of the best inventions of the year by Time magazine was first patented by Canadian inventor Wayne Fromm. However, a Japanese company claimed it had invented it 32 years ago, according to Inquisitr.
The selfie stick's predecessor was first introduced by Japanese camera company Minolta in 1983 and was called the Minolta Disc-7. Despite being three decades ahead of its time, the Minolta Disc-7 has one distinct feature that makes it almost identical to the selfie stick. It features a telescoping carrying strap that helps in focusing and helps its users take a self-portrait, the same way the selfie stick works.
The device was first introduced as a "Chindogu" and was published in 1995 in an English book entitled "101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindogu." When it first came out, its Japanese name roughly translates to "Extender" since the word selfie was not yet invented then.
On the other hand, the novel idea of a selfie stick was introduced by Wayne Fromm who had thought of it when he was on vacation along with his daughter in Florence, Italy. According to Fromm, he came up with the idea of the selfie stick when he and his daughter was trying to take a photo of a popular tourist attraction and was not able to so because of overcrowding.
Speculation whether Fromm stole his idea from a Japanese company is still debatable. However, in an interview with the New York Magazine, Fromm said that he alone holds the patent for the selfie stick. He added that when the Minolta Disc-7 came out the word "selfie" has not been invented yet.