The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple from 2001 to 2022. The first version was released on November 10, 2001, 10 months after the Macintosh version of iTunes was released. Apple has sold an estimated 450 million iPods. Apple officially discontinued the iPod product line on May 10, 2022. The iPod is the longest-running product discontinued by Apple, with a total lifespan of over 20 years.
Some versions of the iPod can serve as external data storage devices, like other digital music players. Prior to macOS 10.15, Apple's iTunes software (and other alternative software) could be used to transfer music, photos, videos, games, contact information, e-mail settings, Web bookmarks, and calendars to the devices supporting these features from computers using certain versions of Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
Before the release of iOS 5, the iPod branding was used for the media player included with the iPhone and iPad, which was separated into apps named "Music" and "Videos" on the iPod Touch. As of iOS 10.2, the music app was incorporated into the modern Apple TV app. While the iPhone and iPad have essentially the same media player capabilities as the iPod line, they are generally treated as separate products. During the middle of 2010, iPhone sales overtook those of the iPod.
History
Portable MP3 players had existed since 1997; however, Apple found that existing digital music players were either "big and clunky" or "small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful". They also identified weaknesses in existing models' attempt to negotiate the trade-off between capacity and portability: flash memory-based players held too few songs, while the hard drive based models were too big and heavy. To address these deficits, the company decided to develop its own MP3 player.
At Apple CEO Steve Jobs' direction, hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein recruited Tony Fadell, a former employee of General Magic and Philips, who had a business idea to invent a better MP3 player and build a complementary music sales store. Fadell had previously developed the Philips Velo and Nino PDA before starting a company called Fuse Systems to build the new MP3 player, but RealNetworks, Sony and Philips had already passed on the project. Rubinstein had already discovered the Toshiba hard disk drive while meeting with an Apple supplier in Japan, ultimately purchasing the rights to it for Apple. Rubinstein had also already made substantial progress on development of other key hardware elements, including the device's screen and battery.Steve Jobs by Walter Issac page 865
Fadell found support for his project with Apple Computer and was hired by Apple in 2001 as an independent contractor to work on the iPod project, then code-named project P-68. Because most of Apple's engineering manpower and resources were already dedicated to the iMac line, Fadell hired engineers from his startup company, Fuse, and veteran engineers from General Magic and Philips to build the core iPod development team.
Time constraints forced Fadell to develop various components of the iPod outside Apple. Fadell partnered with a company called PortalPlayer to design software for the device; this work eventually took shape as the iPod OS. Within eight months, Tony Fadell's team and PortalPlayer had completed a prototype. The power supply was then designed by Michael Dhuey. The original iPod's physical appearance was inspired by the 1958 Braun T3 transistor radio designed by Dieter Rams, while the wheel-based user interface drew on Bang & Olufsen's BeoCom 6000 telephone. Apple CEO Steve Jobs set an exacting standard for the device's physical design.
Apple contracted another company, named Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface (as well as Unicode, memory management, and event processing) and the firmware under Jobs' direct supervision.
The name iPod was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (with others) was contracted by Apple to determine how to introduce the new player to the public. After Chieco saw a prototype, he was reminded of the phrase "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" from the classic sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, referring to the white EVA Pods of the Discovery One spaceship."Open the pod bay doors, HAL." – Thisdayinquotes.com, April 2, 2017. Chieco's proposal drew an analogy between the relationship of the spaceship to the smaller independent pods and that of a personal computer to its companion music player.
The product (which Fortune called "Apple's 21st-Century Walkman"Simon, William L.; Young, Jeffrey S. (2005). iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. New York: John Wiley & Sons, p. 343. ) was developed in less than one year and unveiled on October 23, 2001. Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket".
Apple researched the trademark and found that it was already in use. Joseph N. Grasso of New Jersey had originally listed an "iPod" trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in July 2000 for Internet kiosks. First demonstrated in New Jersey in March 1998, iPod kiosks saw commercial use from January 2000 until the venture was discontinued by 2001. The trademark was registered by the USPTO (or TSPMO) in November 2003, and Grasso assigned it to Apple Computer, Inc. in 2005.Serial No. 78018061, Registration No. 2781793, records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. InPub, LLC, filed an "IPOD" trademark on June 1, 1999, for "computer software and hardware". The trademark was abandoned May 18, 2000, without commercial use. Separately, the earliest recorded use in commerce of an "iPod" trademark was in 1991 by Chrysalis Corp. of Sturgis, Michigan, styled "iPOD", for office furniture.
As development of the iPod progressed, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel, rewriting much of the code. Starting with the iPod Mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans—a font similar to Apple's corporate font, Myriad. Color display iPods then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and a brushed metal appearance in the screen lock interface.
On January 8, 2004, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced that they would sell HP-branded iPods under a license agreement from Apple. Several new retail channels were used—including Walmart—and these iPods eventually made up 5% of all iPod sales. In July 2005, HP stopped selling iPods due to unfavorable terms and conditions imposed by Apple.HP to stop selling Apple's iPods , AppleInsider, July 29, 2005. Retrieved on August 6, 2007.
In 2006, Apple partnered with Irish rock band U2 to present a special edition of the 5th-generation iPod. Like its predecessor, this iPod has the signatures of the four members of the band engraved on its back, but this one was the first time the company changed the color of the stainless steel back from a silver chrome to black. This iPod was only available with 30 GB of storage capacity. The special edition entitled purchasers to an exclusive video with 33 minutes of interviews and performance by U2, downloadable from the iTunes Store.
In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod Classic and third-generation iPod Nano by changing the font to Helvetica and, in most cases, splitting the screen in half, displaying the menus on the left and submenu content (album artwork, photos, videos, etc.) on the right.
In mid-2015, several new color schemes for all of the current iPod models were spotted in the iTunes 12.2 update. Belgian website Belgium iPhone originally found the images after plugging in an iPod for the first time, and subsequent photos were discovered by Pierre Dandumont before being leaked.
On July 27, 2017, Apple removed the iPod Nano and Shuffle from its stores, marking the end of Apple's production of standalone music players. On May 10, 2022, Apple discontinued the iPod Touch, the last remaining product in the iPod line. iOS 15 was the last iOS release the 7th generation iPod touch received, as future versions from iOS 16 onward no longer support the device.
Hardware +Chipsets and electronicsChipset or electronicProduct(s)Component(s)MicrocontrolleriPod Classic 1st to 3rd generationsTwo ARM7TDMI-derived cores running at 90 MHziPod Classic 4th and 5th generations, iPod Mini, iPod Nano 1st generationVariable-speed ARM7TDMI cores, running at a peak of 80 MHz to save battery lifeiPod Classic 6th generation, iPod Nano 2nd generation onwards, iPod Shuffle 2nd generation onwardsSamsung System-on-a-chip, based around an ARM processor.iPod Shuffle 1st generationSigmaTel D-Major STMP3550 chip running at 75 MHz that handles both the music decoding and the audio circuitry.Williams, Martyn. How Much Should an IPod Shuffle Cost? , PC World, February 24, 2005. Retrieved on August 14, 2006.iPod Touch 1st and 2nd generation ARM 1176JZ(F)-S at 412 MHz for 1st gen, 533 MHz for 2nd gen.iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generation ARM Cortex A8 at 600 MHz for 3rd gen, 800 MHz for 4th gen. (Apple A4)iPod Touch 5th generation ARM Cortex A9 at 800 MHz (Apple A5)iPod Touch 6th generation Apple ARMv8-A "Typhoon" at 1.1 GHz (Apple A8) with Apple M8 Motion coprocessoriPod Touch 7th generation Apple ARMv8-A "Hurricane" and "Zephyr" at 1.64 GHz (Apple A10 Fusion) with Apple M10 Motion coprocessorAudio chipiPod Classic 1st to 5th generation, iPod Touch 1st generation, iPod Nano 1st to 3rd generation, iPod MiniMacworld Wolfson loses Apple iPod business Audio Codecs developed by Wolfson MicroelectronicsiPod Classic 6th generation, iPod Touch 2nd generation onwards, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano 4th generation onwardsCirrus Logic Audio Codec ChipVideo chipiPod Classic 5th generationBroadcom BCM2722 VideoCore 2 graphics processorStorage mediumiPod Classic45.7 mm (1.8 in) hard drives (ATA-6, 4200 rpm with ZIF connectors) made by ToshibaiPod Mini25.4 mm (1 in) Microdrive by Hitachi and SeagateiPod NanoFlash memory from Samsung, Toshiba, and othersiPod Shuffle and TouchFlash memoryBatteriesiPod Classic 1st and 2nd generationInternal Recyclable Lithium Polymer BatteriesiPod Classic 3rd generation onwards, iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPod ShuffleInternal Recyclable Lithium-Ion BatteriesDisplayiPod Nano 7th generation2.5-inch (diagonal) Multi-Touch, 432-by-240 resolution at 202 pixels per inchiPod Classic 5th and 6th generation2.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD with LED backlight, 320-by-240 resolution at 163 pixels per inchiPod Touch 1st to 3rd generation3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch, 480-by-320 resolution at 163 pixels per inchiPod Touch 4th generation3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch, 960-by-640 resolution at 326 pixels per inchiPod Touch 5th to 7th generation4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch, 1136-by-640 resolution at 326 pixels per inch
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