The Apple iPod… a tiny new wheel that drove a whole new path into a whole new decade.
iPod Original
Suddenly, the power begins to switch from the desktop to the hand. Without the invention of the iPod, there would be no iTunes store and possibly a collapse of the music industry. In 2001, prior to the iPod, online music sharing (or stealing music, depending on who you talked to) had gone from a techie hobby to something that most everyone was figuring out how to do or knew someone who did. The iPod was introduced on October 23rd, 2001, just three months after Napster (the mainstream music pirating company) was shut down. On April 28th, 2003 the iTunes Music Store was launched online and within a week sold one million songs. In just 5 years the iTunes store became the # 1 music retailer in the United States!
Surely everyone has seen the iPod ad campaign by Chiat Day
Advertising Agency either in print or on a huge billboard. It was
launched in September of 2003 and was so simple to look at, yet so
powerful and unique in it’s message. Debatably true of the all
ads that came from the Apple/Chiat partnership, they were
controversial at the very least.
Apple was always keen on the competition and quite sure that someone would try and put the iPod under. They vigorously kept improving and enhancing the original iPod. There soon was an iPod Photo, iPod Touch, iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, and an iPod Video.
The iPod Photo was a place to store thousands of digital photos and then show them to all your friends wherever you go.
The iPod Nano, so tiny that you could wear it on an armband while
running and not even feel the weight.
There were actually 18 new generations of iPods in just 8 years!
Each new generation was lighter, sleeker, and more intelligent than
the prior model. In the 10+ years that the iPod has been alive, no
competitor has surpassed them. A few have tried, but surprisingly
even to Apple, no one has succeeded. Even Microsoft discontinued
their efforts on the Zune media player after four years, since most
people never heard of it anyways.