Apple has quietly killed off the classic iPod after a 13-year run. You can still buy music players with the iPod branding — Touch, Nano or Shuffle — but you can no longer buy a device from Apple that sports the famous iPod clickwheel.
The classic iPod had a built-in hard drive that's bulky and prone to failure. Newer Apple PRODUCTS — including the Nano, Shuffle, and iPhone — are based on flash memory that's smaller and more reliable — but more expensive per bit. But as the price of flash storage has fallen, the advantages of a hard drive-based music player have dwindled. It's probably not a coincidence that Apple killed off the classic iPod the same week it introduced the first iPhone with 128 GB of storage.
Needless to say, the iPod was a massive success. By 2005, four years after the first iPod was released, Apple controlled 74 percent of the worldwide market for digital music players. Now that smartphones can play music the market for standalone music players is shrinking, but Apple continues to command the lion's share of the market.
Yet when the iPod was released in 2001, it was greeted with a lot of skepticism. The initial version only worked with Macs, which had a single-digit share of the PC market.
And as Wired noted at the time, the Mac faithful weren't that impressed either. They compared it the Power Mac G4 Cube, an expensive computer with an unusual design many compared to a kleenix box that failed to catch on with customers.
"Apple has introduced a product that's neither revolutionary nor breakthrough, and they've priced it so high that it's reminiscent of the Cube," a post on MacSlash said.
The message then OFFERED some ideas for what "iPod" might stand for. These won't make Jobs happy: "I Pretend it's an Original Device," it suggested, or "idiots Price Our Devices."
Others offered "I'd Prefer Owning Discs!" and "I Prefer Other Devices." There were some people who liked it, of course ("Impressive Piece of Design") but it was stunning how many seemed at least indifferent to the new toy.
The skeptics weren't totally wrong — Apple added Windows support in 2002 and introduced a lower-cost iPod Mini in 2004 to address concerns about compatibility and price. But they obviously underestimated the breadth of the device's appeal
How did Steve Jobs turn Apple around?
When Steve Jobs took the reins at Apple in 1997, the company was in tough shape. It had a bewildering array of PRODUCTS, no clear strategy, and was losing tens of millions of dollars every quarter.
Jobs acted decisively. He cancelled 70 percent of Apple's products and laid off more than 3000 people, turning a $1 billion loss in 1997 into a $300 million profit in 1998. Then he started work building products that became Silicon Valley legends:
In 1998, Jobs unveiled the iMac. It sported a colorful, curvy look and was one of the most affordable computers Apple had ever made.
In 2001, Apple released the iPod music player. Customers loved its elegant click-wheel interface. More importantly, the iPod worked seamlessly with iTunes, Apple's jukebox software for the Mac, making it easy to get music from CDs (and, later, from the iTunes music store) onto their iPods. By the end of the decade, Apple had sold more than 200 million iPods.
Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007. It sported a revolutionary touchscreen interface that transformed mobile phones in much the same way the Macintosh had transformed personal computers 23 years earlier. Apple has sold 500 million iPhones.
Apple expanded on the iPhone's success in 2010 with the iPad, a tablet computer based on the same software. Apple has sold 200 million iPads.
All of these PRODUCTS were crafted by Apple's top designer, Jony Ive. Jobs found a soul mate in Ive, and would visit Ive's studios on a daily basis to discuss the designs of forthcoming products. Jobs was a perfectionist, frequently rejecting work that wasn't up to his standards.
Jobs was a genius at marketing. He marked his return to Apple with a "Think Different" ad campaign that associated Apple with unconventional thinkers such as Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi. He introduced new PRODUCTSat keynote addresses that became major media events in their own right. And he developed a chain of Apple Stores that ensured that Apple's products would be presented in a favorable light.
Jobs was also one of the savviest negotiators in Silicon Valley. He pulled off a major coup in 2003 by convincing the "big five" record labels to allow Apple to sell their music in the iTunes Music Store, helping to cement the popularity of the iPod.
The classic iPod had a built-in hard drive that's bulky and prone to failure. Newer Apple PRODUCTS — including the Nano, Shuffle, and iPhone — are based on flash memory that's smaller and more reliable — but more expensive per bit. But as the price of flash storage has fallen, the advantages of a hard drive-based music player have dwindled. It's probably not a coincidence that Apple killed off the classic iPod the same week it introduced the first iPhone with 128 GB of storage.
Needless to say, the iPod was a massive success. By 2005, four years after the first iPod was released, Apple controlled 74 percent of the worldwide market for digital music players. Now that smartphones can play music the market for standalone music players is shrinking, but Apple continues to command the lion's share of the market.
Yet when the iPod was released in 2001, it was greeted with a lot of skepticism. The initial version only worked with Macs, which had a single-digit share of the PC market.
And as Wired noted at the time, the Mac faithful weren't that impressed either. They compared it the Power Mac G4 Cube, an expensive computer with an unusual design many compared to a kleenix box that failed to catch on with customers.
"Apple has introduced a product that's neither revolutionary nor breakthrough, and they've priced it so high that it's reminiscent of the Cube," a post on MacSlash said.
The message then OFFERED some ideas for what "iPod" might stand for. These won't make Jobs happy: "I Pretend it's an Original Device," it suggested, or "idiots Price Our Devices."
Others offered "I'd Prefer Owning Discs!" and "I Prefer Other Devices." There were some people who liked it, of course ("Impressive Piece of Design") but it was stunning how many seemed at least indifferent to the new toy.
The skeptics weren't totally wrong — Apple added Windows support in 2002 and introduced a lower-cost iPod Mini in 2004 to address concerns about compatibility and price. But they obviously underestimated the breadth of the device's appeal
How did Steve Jobs turn Apple around?
When Steve Jobs took the reins at Apple in 1997, the company was in tough shape. It had a bewildering array of PRODUCTS, no clear strategy, and was losing tens of millions of dollars every quarter.
Jobs acted decisively. He cancelled 70 percent of Apple's products and laid off more than 3000 people, turning a $1 billion loss in 1997 into a $300 million profit in 1998. Then he started work building products that became Silicon Valley legends:
In 1998, Jobs unveiled the iMac. It sported a colorful, curvy look and was one of the most affordable computers Apple had ever made.
In 2001, Apple released the iPod music player. Customers loved its elegant click-wheel interface. More importantly, the iPod worked seamlessly with iTunes, Apple's jukebox software for the Mac, making it easy to get music from CDs (and, later, from the iTunes music store) onto their iPods. By the end of the decade, Apple had sold more than 200 million iPods.
Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007. It sported a revolutionary touchscreen interface that transformed mobile phones in much the same way the Macintosh had transformed personal computers 23 years earlier. Apple has sold 500 million iPhones.
Apple expanded on the iPhone's success in 2010 with the iPad, a tablet computer based on the same software. Apple has sold 200 million iPads.
All of these PRODUCTS were crafted by Apple's top designer, Jony Ive. Jobs found a soul mate in Ive, and would visit Ive's studios on a daily basis to discuss the designs of forthcoming products. Jobs was a perfectionist, frequently rejecting work that wasn't up to his standards.
Jobs was a genius at marketing. He marked his return to Apple with a "Think Different" ad campaign that associated Apple with unconventional thinkers such as Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi. He introduced new PRODUCTSat keynote addresses that became major media events in their own right. And he developed a chain of Apple Stores that ensured that Apple's products would be presented in a favorable light.
Jobs was also one of the savviest negotiators in Silicon Valley. He pulled off a major coup in 2003 by convincing the "big five" record labels to allow Apple to sell their music in the iTunes Music Store, helping to cement the popularity of the iPod.
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