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From: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/cultofmac/1,71956-0.html
Straight Dope on the IPod's Birth
By Leander Kahney
| 
Also
by this reporter
02:00 AM Oct, 17, 2006
Thanks to Apple
Computer's penchant for CIA-like secrecy, there are several myths concerning
the birth of the iPod.
One of these
myths is that the iPod has a father -- one man who conceived and nurtured the
iconic device. Steve Jobs, of course, is one candidate; but engineer Tony
Fadell has also been named the father of the iPod, as has Jon Rubinstein, the
former head of Apple's hardware division. While they all played key roles in
the iPod's development, the iPod was truly a team effort.
Here's the
story:
In 2000, Steve
Jobs' candy-colored iMac was leading the charge for Apple's comeback, but to
further spur sales, the company started asking, "What can we do to make
more people buy Macintoshes?"
Music lovers
were trading tunes like crazy on Napster. They were attaching speakers to their
computers and ripping CDs. The rush to digital was especially marked in dorm
rooms -- a big source of iMac sales -- but Apple had no jukebox software for
managing digital music.
To catch up
with this revolution, Apple licensed the SoundJam MP music player from a small
company and hired its hotshot programmer, Jeff Robbin. Under the direction of
Jobs, Robbin spent several months retooling SoundJam into iTunes (mostly making
it simpler). Jobs introduced it at the Macworld Expo in January 2001.
While Robbin
was working on iTunes, Jobs and Co. started looking for gadget opportunities.
They found that digital cameras and camcorders were pretty well designed and
sold well, but music players were a different matter.
"The
products stank," Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod product
marketing, told Newsweek.
Digital music
players were either big and clunky or small and useless. Most were based on
fairly small memory chips, either 32 or 64 MB, which stored only a few dozen
songs -- not much better than a cheap portable CD player.
But a couple of
the players were based on a new 2.5-inch hard drive from Fujitsu. The most
popular was the Nomad Jukebox from Singapore-based Creative. About the size of
a portable CD player but twice as heavy, the Nomad Jukebox showed the promise
of storing thousands of songs on a (smallish) device. But it had some horrible
flaws: It used Universal Serial Bus to transfer songs from the computer, which
was painfully slow. The interface was an engineer special (unbelievably awful)
and it often sucked batteries dry in just 45 minutes.
Here was
Apple's opportunity.
"I don't
know whose idea it was to do a music player, but Steve jumped on it pretty
quick and he asked me to look into it," said Jon Rubinstein, the veteran
Apple engineer who's been responsible for most of the company's hardware in the
last 10 years.
Now retired,
Rubinstein joined Apple in 1997. He'd previously worked at NeXT, where he'd
been Steve Jobs' hardware guy. While at Apple, Rubinstein oversaw a string of
groundbreaking machines, from the first Bondi-blue iMac to water-cooled
workstations -- and, of course, the iPod. When Apple split into separate iPod
and Macintosh divisions in 2004, Rubinstein was put in charge of the iPod side
-- a testament to how important both he and the iPod were to Apple.
Apple's team
knew it could solve most of the problems plagued by the Nomad. Its FireWire
connector could quickly transfer songs from the computer to player -- an entire
CD in a few seconds; a huge library of MP3s in minutes. And thanks to the
rapidly growing cell phone industry, new batteries and displays were constantly
coming to market.
In February
2001, during the Macworld show in Tokyo, Rubinstein made a visit to Toshiba,
Apple's supplier of hard drives, where executives showed him a tiny drive the
company had just developed. The drive was 1.8 inches in diameter --
considerably smaller than the 2.5-inch Fujitsu drive used in competing players
-- but Toshiba didn't have any idea what it might be used for.
"They said
they didn't know what to do with it. Maybe put it in a small notebook,"
Rubinstein recalled. "I went back to Steve and I said, 'I know how to do
this. I've got all the parts.' He said, 'Go for it.'"
"Jon's
very good at seeing a technology and very quickly assessing how good it
is," Joswiak told Cornell
Engineering Magazine. "The iPod's a great example of Jon seeing a
piece of technology's potential: that very, very small form-factor hard
drive."
Rubinstein
didn't want to distract any of the engineers working on new Macs, so in
February 2001 he hired a consultant -- engineer Fadell -- to hash out the
details.
Fadell had a
lot of experience making handheld devices: He'd developed popular gadgets for
General Magic and Philips. A mutual acquaintance gave his number to Rubinstein.
"I called
Tony," Rubinstein said. "He was on the ski slope at the time. I
didn't tell him what he was going to work on. Until he walked in the door, he
didn't know what he was going to be working on."
Jobs wanted a
player in shops by fall, before the holiday shopping season.
Fadell was put
in charge of a small team of engineers and designers, who put the device
together quickly. The team took as many parts as possible off the shelf: the
drive from Toshiba, a battery from Sony, some control chips from Texas
Instruments.
The basic
hardware blueprint was bought from Silicon Valley startup PortalPlayer, which
was working on "reference designs" for several different digital
players, including a full-size unit for the living room and a portable player
about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
The team also
drew heavily on Apple's in-house expertise.
"We didn't
start from scratch," Rubinstein said. "We've got a hardware
engineering group at our disposal. We need a power supply, we've got a power
supply group. We need a display, we've got a display group. We used the
architecture team. This was a highly leveraged product from the technologies we
already had in place."
One of the
biggest problems was battery life. If the drive was kept spinning while playing
songs, it quickly drained the batteries. The solution was to load several songs
into a bank of memory chips, which draw much less power. The drive could be put
to sleep until it's called on to load more songs. While other manufacturers
used a similar architecture for skip protection, the first iPod had a 32-MB
memory buffer, which allowed batteries to stretch 10 hours instead of two or
three.
Given the
device's parts, the iPod's final shape was obvious. All the pieces sandwiched
naturally together into a thin box about the size of a pack of cards.
"Sometimes
things are really clear from the materials they are made from, and this was one
of those times," said Rubinstein. "It was obvious how it was going to
look when it was put together."
Nonetheless,
Apple's design group, headed by Jonathan Ive, Apple's vice president of
industrial design, made prototype after prototype.
''Steve made
some very interesting observations very early on about how this was about
navigating content,'' Ive told The New York Times. ''It was about being
very focused and not trying to do too much with the device -- which would have
been its complication and, therefore, its demise. The enabling features aren't
obvious and evident, because the key was getting rid of stuff.''
Ive told the Times
that the key to the iPod wasn't sudden flashes of genius, but the design process.
His design group collaborated closely with manufacturers and engineers,
constantly tweaking and refining the design. ''It's not serial,'' he told the Times.
''It's not one person passing something on to the next.''
Robert Brunner, a
partner at design firm Pentagram and former head of Apple's design group, said
Apple's designers mimic the manufacturing process as they crank out prototypes.
"Apple's
designers spend 10 percent of their time doing traditional industrial design:
coming up with ideas, drawing, making models, brainstorming," he said.
"They spend 90 percent of their time working with manufacturing, figuring
out how to implement their ideas."
To make them
easy to debug, prototypes were built inside polycarbonate containers about the
size of a large shoebox.
The iPod's
basic software was also brought in -- from Pixo, which was working on an
operating system for cell phones. On top of Pixo's low-level system, Apple
built the iPod's celebrated user interface.
The idea for
the scroll wheel was suggested by Apple's head of marketing, Phil Schiller, who
in an early meeting said quite definitively, "The wheel is the right user
interface for this product."
Schiller also
suggested that menus should scroll faster the longer the wheel is turned, a
stroke of genius that distinguishes the iPod from the agony of competing
players. Schiller's scroll wheel didn't come from the blue, however; scroll
wheels are pretty common in electronics, from scrolling mice to Palm thumb
wheels. Bang
& Olufsen BeoCom phones have an iPod-like dial for navigating lists of
phone contacts and calls. Back in 1983, the Hewlett
Packard 9836 workstation had a keyboard with a similar wheel for scrolling
text.
The interface was
mocked up by Tim Wasko, an interactive designer who came to Apple from NeXT,
where he had worked with Jobs. Wasko had previously been responsible for the
clean, simple interface in Apple's QuickTime player. Like the hardware
designers, Wasko designed mockup after mockup, presenting the variations on
large glossy printouts that could be spread over a conference table to be
quickly sorted and discussed.
The output of a
committee is a function of the quality of its members and how they're led. As
the iPod came together, it garnered more and more attention from Jobs, whose
insistence on excellence and high standards are stamped onto the gadget as
indelibly as Apple's logo.
"Most
people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like," Jobs
told the Times. "That's not what we think design is. It's not just
what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Jobs insisted
the iPod work seamlessly with iTunes, and that many functions should be
automated, especially transferring songs. The model was Palm's HotSync
software.
"Plug it
in. Whirrrrrr. Done," Jobs told Fortune.
The iPod name
was offered up by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter who lives in San
Francisco. Chieco was recruited by Apple to be part of a small team tasked with
helping figure out how to introduce the new player to the general public, not
just computer geeks.
During the
process, Jobs had settled on the player's descriptive tag line -- "1,000
songs in your pocket" -- so the name was freed up from having to be
descriptive. It didn't have to reference music or songs.
While
describing the player, Jobs constantly referred to Apple's digital hub
strategy: The Mac is a hub, or central connection point, for a host of gadgets.
This prompted Chieco to start thinking about hubs: objects that other things
connect to.
The ultimate
hub, Chieco figured, would be a spaceship. You could leave the spaceship in a
smaller vessel, a pod, but you'd have to return to the mother ship to refuel
and get food. Then Chieco was shown a prototype iPod, with its stark white
plastic front.
"As soon
as I saw the white iPod, I thought 2001," said Chieco. "Open
the pod bay door, Hal!"
Then it was
just a matter of adding the "i" prefix, as in "iMac."
Chieco declined
to mention any of the alternative names that were considered. A source at Apple
confirmed Chieco's story.
Athol Foden, a
naming expert and president of Brighter Naming of Mountain View, California,
noted that Apple had already trademarked the iPod name for an internet kiosk, a
project that never saw the light of day. On July 24, 2000, Apple registered the
iPod name for "a public internet kiosk enclosure containing computer
equipment," according to the filing.
Chieco said the
internet kiosk is probably a coincidence. He suggested that maybe another team
at Apple registered the name for a different project, but because of the
company's penchant for secrecy, his team wasn't aware what the other had done.
And neither, apparently, was Steve Jobs. Chieco said neither Jobs -- nor anyone
else -- seemed aware that the company had already registered the iPod
trademark.
"The name
'iPod' makes much more sense for an internet kiosk, which is a pod for a human,
than a music player," said Foden.
"They
discovered in their tool chest of registered names they had 'iPod,'" he
added. "If you think about the product, it doesn't really fit. But it
doesn't matter. It's short and sweet."
Foden said the
name is a stroke of genius: It is simple, memorable and, crucially, it doesn't
describe the device, so it can still be used as the technology evolves, even if
the device's function changes. He noted the "i" prefix has a double
meaning: It can mean "internet," as in "iMac," or it can
denote the first person: "I," as in me.
On Oct. 23,
2001, about five weeks after 9/11, Jobs introduced the finished product at a
special event at Apple's HQ.
"This is a
major, major breakthrough," Jobs told the assembled reporters.
- - -
Leander Kahney
is managing editor at Wired News and the author of two books about technology
culture: The
Cult of Mac and The
Cult of IPod. He contributes to the Cult of Mac blog.
From: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-a-brief-history-of-ipod/
Key
Milestones in the Life of the iPod
January 9, 2001
Apple introduces iTunes for the Macintosh, a program that converts audio CDs
into compressed digital audio files, organizes digital music collections, and
plays Internet radio.
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October 23, 2001 November 10, 2001 Mid-November, 2001 December 31, 2001 |
|
|
March 20, 2002
Apple announces a 10GB / 2,000 song update to the iPod for $499. Taking a cue
from crafty third-party developers, Apple ships new iPods with the ability to
display business card-like contact information, a feature that makes some wonder
about future PDA-like expansion of the iPod’s abilities. As of this date, the
iPod is still a Mac-only product, though workaround programs for PCs are
circulating and largely functional.
July 17, 2002
Apple makes four major announcements. First, PC versions of the iPods are
unveiled, including MusicMatch software instead of iTunes. Second, a 20GB iPod
is introduced. Third, 10GB and 20GB models now sport a new touch-sensitive
Scroll Wheel instead of an actual moving wheel, which was easier to damage. And
finally, iPod prices are lowered: 5GB drops to $299, 10GB drops to $399, and
the 20GB model sits at $499. However, all iPods at this point still require
users to have computers with FireWire connectivity ports, which are faster than
competing USB ports but far less common on PCs.
October, 2002
By this point, retailers Best Buy, Dell, and Target have all started to sell
iPods. Sensing the appeal of high-capacity music players, Creative releases the
Nomad Zen Jukebox as a cheaper but larger competitor to the iPod.
December, 2002
Apple unveils its first and only limited edition iPods, with either Madonna’s,
Tony Hawk’s, or Beck’s signature engraved on the back for an additional $49.
(Another iPod featured the engraved logo of rock band No Doubt.) At a total
price of $548, these limited edition iPods were the most expensive ever sold by
Apple.
March, 2003
Microsoft announces Media2Go portable video and audio players, originally
targeted for a holiday 2003 release. The players will eventually be renamed
Windows Portable Media Centers, deemed Microsoft’s “iPod killer,” and delayed
until late 2004.
April, 2003
Dell, which has been offering aggressive discounts on the iPod, temporarily
stops selling the device after failing to renew its reseller agreement with
Apple, but then renews.
April 28, 2003
Big news: Apple unveils the updated “third-generation” iPod and the iTunes
Music Store for Mac users. The new iPods are thinner and smaller than before,
feature a bottom Dock Connector port rather than a top-mounted FireWire port,
and have entirely touch sensitive controls. Each new iPod has a higher capacity
than the previous generation model it replaces by price point: new 10GB / 2,000
song ($299), 15GB / 3,700 song ($399) and 30GB / 7,500 song ($499) models are
available. All third-generation iPods now work on either Macs or PCs. Apple’s
iTunes Music Store launches with 99 cent per track / $9.99 per album pricing
and a library of 200,000 songs, but isn’t yet available for PC users.
May 1-4, 2003
Retailers begin to sell third-generation iPods, and one week after launching
the Mac iTunes Music Store, Apple has sold 1,000,000 songs.
June 19, 2003
Taking advantage of the iPods’ proprietary (and FireWire/USB agnostic) Dock
Connector port, Apple releases Dock Connector-to-USB 2.0 cables and drivers for
third-generation iPods, expanding the range of PCs that can connect to the
devices.
June 23, 2003
Apple sells the one millionth iPod, more than a year and a half after the
release of the device.
September 8, 2003
Apple refreshes the middle and top of the third-generation iPod line with
higher storage capacities at familiar pricing. A 20GB / 5,000 song ($399) model
replaces the 15GB version, and a 40GB / 10,000 song ($499) model replaces the
30GB version introduced in April. Apple also announces that it has sold
10,000,000 songs through the iTunes Music Store since launch.
October 16, 2003
Apple releases both iTunes and the iTunes Music Store for U.S.-based PC users,
phasing out support for MusicMatch PC software in the process. Belkin and Apple
jointly announce voice recording and digital photo storage peripherals for the
iPod, further and more tangibly expanding the unit’s capabilities past music playback.
Apple also announces total sales of 13,000,000 songs via iTunes since launch.
October 27, 2003
Running a month behind its expected launch date, Dell announces the Digital
Jukebox (DJ) as a cheaper competitor to the iPod, and partners with MusicMatch
to offer a music downloading service. (By December, Dell will announce that it
has permanently stopped reselling iPods to focus on the DJ.)
November, 2003
Complaints about iPod battery problems reach a fever pitch as the ‘iPod’s Dirty
Little Secret’ video spreads across the Internet. Apple subsequently publicizes
a cheaper battery replacement alternative for existing users.
January 6, 2004
Apple debuts the iPod mini, a diminutive 4GB version of the iPod available in
five colors at $249. Despite an impressive simplifying redesign of the iPod’s
control scheme and casing, critical opinion of the device is initially mixed
because of price and capacity concerns. Apple simultaneously replaces the $299
10GB entry-level iPod with a 15GB model, and retailers almost immediately
discount the discontinued 10GB model to $249, further clouding the value
equation.
January 6, 2004
Apple announces the sale of the two millionth iPod, less than six months after
hitting the one million mark.
January 8, 2004
In an entirely unexpected move, personal computer heavyweight Hewlett-Packard
announces at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show that it will license the
iPod from Apple rather than develop a competing product. HP CEO Carly Fiorina
promises to release and sell a “HP blue"-colored iPod by Summer, and
agrees to market iTunes to its PC customers almost immediately.
February 17-20, 2004
Apple ships its first iPod minis starting on Tuesday, and long lines form at
stores for its official Friday on-sale date. Sell-outs and near-sell-outs are
reported nationwide, and critical opinion quickly turns in the device’s favor.
March 25, 2004
Apple pushes back the international release of the iPod mini from April to
July, citing “much stronger than expected demand” from U.S. customers. Analysts
report shortages of the miniature hard drives required by Apple.
May 5, 2004
Apple announces the sale of the three millionth iPod, only four months after
hitting the two million mark. Analysts widely acknowledge the iPod as the
digital audio market’s dominant hardware format, and begin to de-emphasize
references to cheaper competitors.
June 15, 2004
Apple releases the iTunes Music Store in three European markets: France,
Germany, and the United Kingdom. One week later, 800,000 songs have been sold
to European customers, 450,000 in the UK alone.
July 11-12, 2004
The iTunes Music Store sells its 100,000,000th downloaded song at approximately
1:25AM Eastern Standard Time, July 12 (or 10:25PM Pacific Standard Time, July
11), the first legal music download service to hit that milestone. Thanks to an
Apple contest offering a 17” PowerBook laptop computer, 40GB iPod and iTunes
gift certificate for 10,000 songs (total estimated value: $13,200) to the
person who purchased the 100,000,000th song, approximately 40,000 songs (total
estimated value: $39,600) were sold in just the ten minutes before the
milestone was reached.
July 17, 2004
Leaked by Newsweek magazine two days before Apple’s expected official
announcement, the first photograph of the fourth-generation iPod appears on the
Internet, depicting a hybrid of the third-generation iPod’s white casing with
the Click Wheel controls from the iPod mini.
July 19-20, 2004
Offically announced by Apple on July 19, the fourth-generation iPod is
physically thinner than the third-generation iPod but remains larger than the
iPod mini, boasts improved battery life (12 hours), iPod mini-style Click Wheel
controls, and small software tweaks such as a main menu randomized (shuffle)
playback feature. Called lower-cost iPods, prices for the new low-end (20GB,
$299) and mid-range (40GB, $399) units look like $100 drops from prior models
until consumers discover that $100 worth of pack-ins (Docks, remote controls,
and cases) have been stripped from their packages. The fourth-generation iPods
also lack some widely rumored features, including a 60GB version and a color
screen to display digital photographs. Buzz remains significant and first units
begin to appear by the 20th.
July 21, 2004
Apple adds three top European independent labels to the iTMS catalog, placating
the few remaining critics of iTunes.
July 24, 2004
Apple releases the iPod mini worldwide, behind schedule but still early enough
to excite people around the world. Sell-outs are reported in several countries,
including Japan.
July 26, 2004
Motorola announces that its next generation of cellular phones will be
iTunes-compatible. In response to Apple’s earlier public rebuffing,
RealNetworks releases a music technology called Harmony, enabling songs sold by
Real through its own music store to be played back on iPods (and other devices)
without Apple’s permission.
August 5, 2004
Apple announces total sales of 3.7 million iPods.
August 10, 2004
The iTunes Music Store library hits 1,000,000 songs.
August 25, 2004
Apple quietly begins to search for wireless and video experts to join its iPod
division.
August 27, 2004
Hewlett-Packard announces the “Apple iPod from HP�? (or “iPod+hp�?),
a repackaged version of the 4G iPod with new manuals and HP-supplied technical
support. Promising availability by September 15, HP begins to
ship units almost immediately, and announces an iPod-compatible printer and
“printable tattoos�? to cover iPods.
August 31, 2004
Apple announces that it has 58% market share of the U.S. digital music player
business, and plans a pan-European iTMS for October.
September 1, 2004
iTMS hits 125 million downloaded songs. Apple releases the iMac G5, which is
now being marketed as a computer “from the creators of iPod.�?
September 7 - October 4, 2004
Microsoft’s unofficial anti-iPod public relations offensive starts. Chairman
Bill Gates says in an
interview that the iPod would have been easy for Microsoft to make. Next, while
Internet-based viruses plague Windows PCs, Microsoft announces that the next
Windows version will prevent iPods from unleashing viruses on PCs, though no
such iPod attack has been reported. Finally, CEO Steve Ballmer publicly calls
iPod users music thieves, claiming that Microsoft offers better copy
protection. He later apologizes.
October 12-14, 2004
Analysts report that iPod sales are 82% of all digital music players and 92% of
all hard-drive based players; nearest hard drive competitor Creative has 3.7%.
Over 2,000,000 iPods were shipped in the prior 3 months alone, and iTMS
downloads hit 150,000,000, a rate of 4 million downloads per week.
October 26, 2004
Apple debuts the iPod photo, a new version of the fourth-generation iPod that’s
capable of displaying digital photographs and album art on its built-in color
screen. Sold in 40GB ($499) and 60GB ($599) capacities, the iPod photo is
physically identical to the fourth-generation iPod, only slightly thicker, and
includes most of the pack-ins (Dock and case) that disappeared from iPod boxes
in July. It also includes a “photo Dock” and AV cable for displaying digital
photos on a television, as well as an evolved, colorized interface for using
the iPod’s music playback features.
On the same day, and
following considerable Apple co-promotion of a U2 song called Vertigo, Apple introduces
the U2 iPod Special Edition ($349), a 20GB fourth-generation iPod with a shiny
black front casing, red Click Wheel, and U2-engraved rear metal casing. The U2
iPod includes a $50 coupon towards the purchase of a $149 Apple-innovated
“digital box set” called The Complete U2, but not a copy of U2’s latest album
as was widely rumored before the product’s launch. Apple notes sales of nearly
6 million iPods to date.
Obvious
differences in size, thickness, and materials aside, the iPod has gone through
a number of changes since its debut in 2001. While the first-generation (1G)
and second-generation (2G) iPods featured a FireWire data port up top next to
the headphone port and hold switch, this data port was removed from the top of
third-generation (3G) iPods, fourth-generation (4G) iPods, iPod minis and iPod
photos in favor of a bottom-mounted Dock Connector port.
Placement of the four Menu/Play/Forward/Reverse buttons also
changed; the original collection of four curved buttons surrounded the 1G and
2G iPods’ Scroll Wheels, but were transformed into circular buttons above the
Scroll Wheel for the 3G iPod, and then integrated into the Click Wheel of the
iPod mini, 4G iPod, and iPod photo, beginning with the iPod mini.
Finally, the wheel mechanism itself has changed: while the 1G
iPod used a wheel that physically moved, each subsequent iPod has used a
touch-sensitive circle that emulates the movement of a wheel - a subtle, yet
unquestionably superior design.
iPod Boxes and Pack-ins
Though the prices and capacities of iPods are their most often touted
differences, each generation of iPods has featured different pack-ins that can
add extra value for the dollar. On the hardware side, Apple’s decision to
include remote controls, carrying cases, and eventually Docks with
premium-priced iPods initially offset those higher prices, though changes to
the iPod line-up in mid-2004 muddied this equation somewhat. On the software
side, the replacement of PC-ready MusicMatch with the Windows version of iTunes
makes newer iPods even easier to enjoy.
(left to right, boxes for the 1G iPod, 2G iPod, 3G iPod, and iPod Mini)
Original (1G) iPod
Included headphones, FireWire cable, iTunes software, AC adapter.
Second-Generation (2G) iPod
5GB Mac Version
Same as above. PC Version included 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire adapter, MusicMatch
software instead of iTunes.
10GB/20GB Versions
Same as above plus iPod Remote control and iPod Carrying Case. PC versions
included 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire adapter, MusicMatch software instead of
iTunes.
Third-Generation (3G) iPod
10GB ($299) Version
Slightly new headphones, AC adapter, Dock Connector to FireWire cable, 4-pin to
6-pin FireWire adapter, iTunes software for Mac and MusicMatch software for
PC*.
Initial 15GB ($399)/30GB ($499) Versions
Same as above plus Dock, new Remote control, and new Carrying Case.
* Refreshed 15GB / 20GB / 40GB iPods include iTunes for both Mac and PC users,
refreshed 15GB ($299, M9460LL/A) iPod does not include Dock, Remote control or
Carrying Case.
iPod mini
Headphones, plastic Belt Clip, AC adapter, Dock Connector to FireWire cable,
Dock Connector to USB cable, iTunes software for Mac and PC users.
Fourth-Generation (4G) iPod
Headphones, AC adapter, Dock Connector to FireWire cable, Dock Connector to USB
cable, iTunes software for Mac and PC users. 40GB iPod includes a Dock, but
neither iPod includes a Remote or Carrying Case, or the older FireWire adapter.
iPod photo
Headphones, AC adapter, Dock Connector to FireWire cable, Dock Connector to USB
cable, iPod photo Dock, AV cable, Carrying Case, iTunes software for Mac and PC
users, Apple stickers.
iPod U2 Special Edition
Headphones, AC adapter, Dock Connector to FireWire cable, Dock Connector to USB
cable, iTunes software for Mac and PC users, $50 Coupon for The Complete U2
digital box set.
Historical
Growth of iPod and iTunes Sales
iPod Sales
iPod sales were good but not fantastic until around the May 2003 release of the
third-generation iPod, which marked a turning point in the sales history of the
device. Prior to that release, Apple’s sales were directed initially towards a
relatively small audience of Macintosh users, and even when a PC version of the
iPod was released, its FireWire-only design limited its appeal to mainstream PC
users.
It took over a year and a
half for Apple to hit the one million mark for iPods sold, but then the
third-generation iPod was unveiled in Tokyo. Only six months later, the company
had sold its second million iPods. Four months later, aided by the release of the
iPod mini, they’d sold another million units of iPod hardware. By late October,
aided by the release of the fourth-generation iPod, Apple was up to almost 6
million total units, and an additional 2-4 million units were predicted to be
sold by the end of 2004.
Importantly, Apple’s sales
milestones were achieved despite the continued introduction of cheaper
alternatives by Creative, Dell, and iRiver, amongst others. None of these
companies’ products appears to have significantly impacted the iPod’s sales
growth or undermined its perception as king of the digital music hill.
iTunes Music Store Sales
Though the history of the iTunes Music Store dates back only a year, there have
been two important positive changes in its sales trends. The first was in
October of 2003, starting with the release of the PC version of the Music
Store. In December 2003, following a flurry of holiday season iPod purchases
and media mentions, the second upward tilt began, dramatically accelerating the
pace of iTunes Music sales. Apple hit the 100 million song mark in July, 2004,
ahead of some expectations (but later than initial Apple predictions), and 150
million by October, 2004, a dramatically increased pace.
Which
Countries Have the iPod, iPod mini, and iTunes Music Store?
iPod
Available worldwide from Apple, Apple authorized retailers, and unauthorized
retailers.
iPod mini
Nearly worldwide. As of July, 2004, Apple released the product into almost
every geographic region of the world. While several countries have not received
the product officially, supplies may be available from importers.
iTunes Music Store
The service was first available (2003) within the United States, then expanded
in June 2004 to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and then on October 26,
2004 added Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. On December 1, 2004, Canada was added to the
list. Negotiations for Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other countries remain
underway.
Q: What’s the most expensive
official iPod Apple has ever sold to consumers?
A: Prior to the release of the
iPod photo, the answer was limited edition iPods laser-engraved with the
buyer’s choice of four alternatives: the signatures of musicians Beck or
Madonna, the logo of band No Doubt, or the signature of pro skateboarder Tony
Hawk. Asking price: $49 over the retail price of each iPod, or $548 for the
then top-priced 20 GB iPod. The new premium iPod is the 60GB iPod photo, sold
for $599.
Q: Has
the iPod ever sparked a legal controversy outside of the United States?
A: Yes, at least three times. The iPod was briefly taken off the
market in France in September 2002 when French authorities notified Apple that
the device violated a law limiting the sound output of portable devices to 100
decibels. Apple quickly updated the iPod’s software to remedy the problem, and
subsequently implemented a volume cap on all iPods shipped to Europe, much to
the consternation of users in other countries. In December 2003, the iPod
became a lightning rod for controversy after Canadian authorities imposed an
additional governmental levy (charge) of CDN$25 per player to compensate
artists whose copyrights were being infringed. The $25 charge was substantially
lower than earlier proposals of $21 per GB, which would have equaled a
$315-$840 additional charge per 15-40 GB iPod - more in some cases than the
cost of the iPod itself. Finally, Apple Computer has been sued in the United
Kingdom by Apple Corps, holder of The Beatles rights, allegedly for violating
an earlier trademark-related agreement whereby Apple Computer agreed not to
enter the music business.
Q:
What’s the most unusual iPod ever sold on eBay?
A: A German seller auctioned an iPod that had been 24-karat gold-plated
after purchase. Additionally, eBay sellers have auctioned off “pink” iPod minis
that Apple accidentally delivered in a shade closer to magenta.
Q: Is it
true that Oprah spent almost $140,000 on iPods and gave them away?
A: In Spring 2003, Oprah named the iPod one of “Oprah’s Favorite
Things” as part of her series of product giveaway shows, and gave 15GB ($399)
iPods to each member of her 350-person studio audience. If you’re worried that
billionaire Oprah had to drop nearly $140,000 of her own cash for the iPods,
don’t be: Apple donated them, and Oprah didn’t even know how to use one when it
was featured on the show. (When you’re a billionaire, you can afford to hire
someone else to program your playlists.)
Q: What
are the biggest iPod-related giveaways to date?
A: The biggest iPod and iTunes giveaways to date have been offered
by Pepsi, which offered a two-month “100 million free songs” giveaway (where
only 5 million songs were actually given away), and an Australia-only “Win an
iPod every hour” campaign with 1,018 15GB iPods available to be won.
Q: What
musicians have been associated with the iPod?
A: Too many to count. After releasing the 10GB iPod, Apple briefly
introduced a series of iPod boxes featuring the images of famous musicians: Jimi
Hendrix and Miles Davis were featured on 10GB iPod boxes, while Bob Marley and
Billie Holiday appeared on 5GB iPod boxes. The company has also included the
previously mentioned musicians Beck, Madonna and No Doubt in a limited edition
engraved iPod campaign, and has included performers such as Alicia Keys in
product and service unveilings. Most notably, U2 released a special edition
black version of the iPod in partnership with Apple in November, 2004
(announced in late October, 2004). The company plans partnerships with other
musicians in the near future.
Q: Do
the British really love the iPod more than Americans?
A: It’s possible. Two early 2004 news stories suggested that
British judges, law enforcement officials, and criminals are taking more than a
passive interest in Apple’s music players. In February, the Beatles versus
Apple case (Apple Corps versus Apple Computer) came before a High Court judge
in London, who wondered aloud whether he would need to be disqualified from the
bench because he was an iPod owner. In March, England’s second largest police
force, the West Midlands Police, warned iPod users to hide their iPods and stop
wearing Apple’s packed-in white headphones because of muggings by iPod-hungry
street thieves. In both cases, representatives of Apple Computer publicly
expressed delight at the iPod’s growing popularity.
Q: Can
the iPod run anything other than Apple’s own operating system?
A: Yes, but not that well. Apple has intentionally prevented
outside developers from experimenting with or changing the device’s operating
system. In an effort to expand the iPod’s support for music formats other than
MP3, AAC, WAV and unprotected WMA, several
hackers have used reverse engineering to make the iPod run a stripped down
version of Linux, which features limited functionality and as yet no ability to
properly play back audio in other formats. Their most visible achievement has
been getting the iPod’s title screen to display the face of Tux the Linux
penguin.
Q: How
much media exposure has the iPod received since launch?
A: An incredible amount. The iPod has been prominently featured in
music videos, television shows, and massive product giveaways, say nothing of
thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, and a number of books. Apple’s
partnership with the rock band U2 increased both the band’s and the iPod’s
profile almost exponentially around the world.
Q: How
have PC hardware and software competitors responded to Apple’s success with the
iPod?
A: The responses have been surprisingly mixed, and not entirely
negative. Though Creative Labs, Dell, and iRiver have continued to develop and
sell competing devices, industry heavyweight Hewlett-Packard in January 2004
halted development of an iPod alternative and opted to license and resell
Apple’s product itself. In March 2004, the CEO of RealNetworks (developer of
RealAudio and RealVideo standards) made an awkward public plea that Apple
introduce iPod support for Real’s standards and competing Music Store, combined
with a threat to join Microsoft if Apple didn’t act. Apple declined. Real
responded in late July by releasing Harmony, software technology to permit
songs sold by Real to play on the iPod. Apple threatened to block Harmony songs
from playing on iPods, and accomplished the feat in mid-November, 2004.
Q:
What’s Apple’s iPod track record with automobile manufacturers?
A: To date, Apple has publicly partnered with two European car
manufacturers to cross-promote iPods and vehicles. In July of 2003, Volkswagen
announced a “Pods Unite” campaign for the 2003 New Beetle, whereby New Beetle
purchasers received a custom-engraved (VW logo) iPod and a “VW Connectivity
Kit” with free music, an Audible audio book, a coupon, a window sticker, a “VW
Music-zine” and what later became known as Belkin’s TuneDok cupholder iPod
mount. In June of 2004, BMW announced the “iPod Your BMW” campaign, whereby
owners of select BMW vehicles can add a $149 iPod control and power charging
system called the BMW iPod Adapter to their cars. Apple promises further
vehicle-related announcements in the near future.
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