Key Pages
- |Changes [Feb 26, 2009]
The cameraThe following is a reproduction of Dennis Lloyd's comprehensive history of the iPod through the Fall of 2004 as posted on iPodlounge.com. The original text can be found here: http://www.ipodlounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-a-brief-history-of-ipod
Key Milestones in the Life of the iPod
2001
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.
October 23, 2001 Apple unexpectedly announces the first iPod at a price of $399. Unlike most (but not all) competing digital audio players available at the time, Apple relies on a hard disk for storage instead of flash memory or interchangeable CD-ROMs, and uniquely focuses on promoting the small size, power, and ease of use of its device. The first iPod has a 5 GB storage capacity - enough for over 1,000 songs - and works only on Macs, using iTunes as a music organization and CD-to-iPod conversion tool. Did Apple release iTunes with the iPod in mind? According to an official Apple timeline, development of the iPod began only six months earlier.
November 10, 2001 Apple ships the first iPod.
Mid-November, 2001 Third-party developers begin to write workaround software that lets the iPod work with PCs. While first demo versions of the software are available in January of 2002, final versions won’t emerge until June of 2002.
December 31, 2001 By the end of 2001, Apple has sold a total of 125,000 iPods.
2002
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.
2003
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.
2004
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.
The 30GB iPod was originally the highest capacity model at the release of the third generation. Like all third generation models, it featured entirely touch sensitive controls to replace the mechanical scroll wheel of the first generation and push buttons of both of the previous generations. In addition, the iPod-to-computer interface changed in the third generation to the flattened dock connector version of the FireWire that comes with the most recent models as well. This changed the way the device is designed to be treated while syncing with the computer, meant to be sitting upright in the docking station and taking a more prominent position in the computer's work space.
The third generation of iPods also coincided with the launch of the iTunes music store, though I was still forced to use the MusicMatch Jukebox software as a PC user to manage my music library both on the iPod and the computer. Once synced with the music collection on my computer, I am able to scroll through my library by artist, song title, or genre using the scroll wheel to browse and the center button to select a sound file. The only inconvenience of my iPod's interface design lies in the four touch sensitive face buttons for previous track, menu, play/pause, and next track; these buttons are so sensitive to pressure that they are often triggered accidentally while being carried in my pocket. As a result, I have to constantly toggle the hold switch at the top of the player in order to avoid unwanted transitions away from songs, but also in order to have access to the buttons when I want to change songs.
I had an mp3 player before December of 2003, but it had nowhere near the style appeal nor functionality of Apple's iPod. Regretfully, I used the same pressure tactics used by a 14-year-old school girl and described in Alex Williams' New York Times Online article in order to ensure that received one for Christmas. The rhetoric of the iPod as a social status symbol, however, has become quite powerful and Apple is capitalizing on that sentiment to further increase the iPod's lead share in the digital music player market. For me personally, I was sold on the Apple lifestyle - simple, chic, but high tech - and walking around campus with the distinctive earbuds only gave me the feeling that I conveyed that message to passersby.
My iPod does do other work for me that is far more functional than representational. For example, without my iPod, I would have to lug around my entire CD collection in order to have access to any song from that collection at any time, and then dig through the pile to find the disc with the song that I wanted to hear. Instead, I can carry every CD I own plus every song I have downloaded in my pocket and play them over any device with a headphone jack.
One aspect of an iPod's 'work' that is more malicious than my previous examples is its alleged use of forced obsolescence. While a key element in its compact design, the inclusion of a non-replacable battery is promoting an industry wide trend towards a 'throw-away' culture, as pointed out in a Daily Yomiuri Article by John Jerney. After between 500 and 1000 charges, the iPod's battery is no longer able to maintain a charge and provide power to the device. Public backlash (notoriously through this website here: http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com) started when Apple's only solution to the problem was to buy a new iPod, though that would mean buying a new player on the average of every two years for most users. Just recently, however, Apple settled a class-action lawsuit addressing this issue by offering to extend the warranty of iPod's bought before May 31, 2004 thus allowing users affected by the settlement to receive a new iPod, a credit toward new Apple products, or get their current iPod fixed.
