We play our favorite music in it, watch videos, movies and TV shows, store pictures, play games and so much more. For a lot of people it has become an everyday object. Something so imbedded into our daily routine that it tends to fade into the background. Now, with the release of newer models, it is perhaps high time that we look back and see; what has made, the iPod what it is.
The iPod, a brand of MP3 player that was first introduced in October of 2001 gave a new face to MP3 players, who before the advent of the iPod have been big, clunky, and awkward and whose user interface was not at all very creative. This revolutionary MP3 Player was born out of Apple’s Digital Hub Strategy, where the company was trying to accommodate the growing demand for digital gadgets. The creation of the iPod is one of the results of the return of Apple Computer’s CEO Steve Jobs to the company he started. In all sense, iPod’s history cannot be discussed without mentioning, the man behind it all.
Born Steven Paul Jobs, he is considered the leading figure in both computer and entertainment is the Co-Founder and CEO of Apple; he was also the CEO of Pixar until it was absorbed by Disney. He is currently a member of Disney’s Board of Directors as well as its largest shareholder. Together with Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak, Jobs helped popularize the Personal Computer. After somewhat of a coup in Apple, Jobs resigned his post and founded a company NeXT. In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple and he has served as its face and its chief executive officer since his returned.
Apple was not doing as well as they could have during Job’s absence, and his return was dubbed as “The Return of the Messiah”. Upon return to Apple he immediately terminated ongoing projects such as Newton, Cyberdog and OpedDoc. He even developed a rather harsh reputation because he had fired a number of people upon his return. Under Jobs’ guidance, the company introduced the world to the iMac, a few other programs and then to the iPod.
Since its introduction in 2001, the iPod has gone through several transformations. The first generation iPod had a click wheel that actually moved with your finger. It was about 6.5 ounces, and held only 5GB of songs, and very expensive at $399 US. The release of the 5GB version was quickly followed by a 10 GB version that retailed at $499 US. The second generation iPod that was released only had a slight change and it was the use of the touch sensitive wheel. In 2004, the 3rd generation iPod was released, with much greater capacity than before, with 15GB, 20GB, 30GB and 40GB models. The 4rth generation of the iPod saw the advent of Apple’s now signature “Click Wheel” making navigation easier.
This was around the time when the iPod was really seen as an accessory. Introduced with this also was the novelty 20GB iPod U2 edition, that had signatures of U2 band members at the back. iPod Photo was also released in 2004, this was the first iPod to have a full color screen display. Then in 2005, the iPod Video was introduced and in 2006 another version of the iPod with greater capability and longer battery life was debuted.
At Present, the latest generation of iPod was released on 05 September, 2007. Introduced were the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, and the much hyped iPod Touch. With all of iPod’s success it can be safe to say that we have not seen the last installment of this amazing MP3 player.