It is an annual event that fans of new technology await with bated breath, but this year, thanks to Apple, the winner is a foregone conclusion.

British technology magazine T3 has revealed its 2010 pick of the 100 hottest gadgets on the planet, and it's no surprise to find the forthcoming iPad top of the pile.

"Rather than ranking products based on specifications and ratings,", says the magazine's online editor Kieran Alger, "T3's annual Hot 100 takes the pulse of the tech world at this moment in time and highlights all the products that are getting T3 hot under the collar right now."

As such, the much-hyped successor to runaway successes like the iMac, iPod and iPhone is a logical choice for the number one spot, having driven much of the technology world into a frenzy ever since Apple's announcement of the gadget on 27 January.

The aftermath has seen such a flurry of preorders that customers expecting to pick up a launch device on 3 April in the US have been told they may have to wait until the end of the month for their devices to be delivered.