iPod History

The little white earbuds sticking in nearly 1 in 5 person walking down the streets have become so commonplace it is hard to remember a time when the word iPod had a science fiction connotation. So how did a seemingly simple mp3 player become such an iconic item of the 21st century?

The iPod's origins date back to the year 2000 when a Phillips employee by the name of Tony Fadell first pitched the idea of a hard drive mp3 player to Apple's eventual competitor Real Networks. Then CEO Ron Glaser turned down Fadell's proposal stating that it would not be profitable investment for Real. After pitching his idea to several other hardware electronics manufacturers, Fadell found his way to Cuppertino at the doorstep of Apple.

Apple's reaction to Fadell's iPod idea was overwhelming. Him and his team began working on the project immediately. After determining that it would be logical to outsource the production of the actual player, Apple called on PortalPlayer a small company that had already begun working on a similar project. Many prototypes were tried and tested, but always resulted in a glitch. During the entire process, Apple CEO Steve Jobs demanded every prototype be passed by him to approve and suggest changes that need to be done. It took Fadell and his team 8 months before finally creating a finalized version of what would become the iPod.

The finished iPod was a first of its kind. Unlike MP3 players available in the market at the time, the iPod was the only player to use a scroll wheel technology. Instead of using next and skip buttons, the scroll wheel allowed the user to seamlessly browse through their song list. While the scroll wheel has been updated to a touch sensitive wheel the idea behind it remained the same for every subsequent iPod model.

Apple began leaking information to the press about an upcoming product release, although it did not give any mention of what the product was. Rumors in internet chat rooms mentioned an updated Newton (Apple's failed attempt at a PDA). It was on October 23rd that Apple's Steve Jobs made the announcement of the Apple iPod.

The iPod's reception in the press was overwhelmingly positive with favorable reviews from every major electronics magazine. User reviews were also very favorable. It was not long after the iPod made its way over to Europe where it as enthusiastically received.

The rest is history, the iPod became the hottest selling mp3 player conquering nearly 50% of the market share. Apple released its iTunes software allowing for easy synching and music management.

The iPod underwent many revisions and was released under many different shapes and forms. The iPod Shuffle, iPod Mini, iPod Nano, and more recently the iPod Touch and the iPhone.