Apple’s Jobs: ‘It would have broken my heart’ if iPod nano debut spoiled by rumor sites (but it was)

“The iPod nano, which stores either 500 or 1,000 songs and is priced at $199 and $249, is intended to replace an existing model, the iPod Mini. The new device will be available in the United States, Japan and Europe this week,” John Markoff reports for The New York Times. “‘The iPod nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod,’ Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. In an interview after his presentation, he called the new player, which is one of the industry’s smallest, a ‘bold gamble.’ By replacing the Mini, which accounts for more than half of all iPods currently sold, the company risked a huge revenue shortfall if the new product had been delayed, Mr. Jobs said. Despite that risk, he said, the nano reflects several innovations.”

Markoff reports, “He focused on the shift away from the small disk-drive storage device used in the iPod Mini to the solid-state flash memory at the heart of the nano. He said the custom chips and the miniaturized circuit board used in the nano had also been potential stumbling blocks. ‘Entire factories were created to make this device,’ he said. ‘Overnight we have become the largest consumer of flash memory in the world.'”

Markoff reports, “Mr. Jobs described an Apple ‘top 100’ meeting earlier this year – a retreat of the company’s top employees – where he urged those attending to take a big risk rather than fall into complacency in protecting the company’s lead in digital music… Several analysts said that Apple had moved the introduction of the nano ahead to ensure it would be widely available for the holiday season… Mr. Jobs said on Wednesday that he was pleased that the details surrounding the nano player had not surfaced prematurely in the press or on the Macintosh rumor sites on the Web. ‘It would have broken my heart,’ he said.”

Full article here.

Markoff also has an audio report on Apple’s New Products here (Requires Real Player).

Advertisement: Apple iPod nano. 1,000 songs. Impossibly small. From $199. Free shipping.
It’s a good thing Steve Jobs doesn’t read Kevin Rose or he’d have been scrambling for a cardiologist. Rose reported on Monday, September 5th: “Why wait till Wed? New 2GB ipod called the ‘Nano’ – it will sport a color screen and will be much smaller and thinner than a mini. Price = $199. You heard it here first.”

Related articles:
Mossberg: Apple iPod nano ‘beautiful, incredibly thin, and exceeds Apple’s performance specs’ – September 08, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘iPod Nano is a hit,’ Motorola ROKR ‘simply doesn’t have enough Apple in it’ – September 07, 2005
Jupiter analyst Gartenberg: ‘the market is going to go for Apple iPod nano in a big way’ – September 07, 2005
Analyst: iPod nano ‘could be Apple’s next home run’ – September 07, 2005
Video of Steve Jobs introducing iPod nano, ROKR iTunes phone now available online – September 07, 2005
Apple’s Steve Jobs predicts ultra-thin iPod nano ‘will become the highest volume iPod in the world’ – September 07, 2005
Apple introduces iPod nano – September 07, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005

66 Comments

  1. Oh I knew all about it, lawsuits tend to have a negative effect on my balance sheet.

    Plus really Apple needs a break, they are trying very hard and the iPod is what is keeping us from being over run by the Microsoft borg alliance.

    So really rumor sites need to grow up and quit trying to kill Apple.

    Go Apple!

  2. I thought it was funny that in the Special Event Motorola’s president emphasized that in the future you would not be hearing about any new releases until the day before they hit the market. I hope they learned their lesson. People were getting sick of hearing about the ROKR before it even hit the market.

    I think they should put iTunes in the RAZR. RAZRs are mega cool – Much better design than the ROKR.

  3. RegularPosterAnonimously, can you please inform the mothership that they need to make a similar bold move with the phone? The ROKR is flat-out pathetic: crippled functionality and a design that reeks of 1998.

    But nice job on the nano, guys. She’s a beauty.

  4. MacDense,

    MDN didn’t drive any “getaway car.” Even if they had linked to Rose’s site BEFORE Apple’s announcement, it would have been perfectly within their rights. But, they didn’t even do that, so your comments are completely misplaced.

    Obviously, MDN reports Rose’s leak here in order to refute the NYT’s and Jobs’ assertion that the news wasn’t out before the official announcement.

  5. Two DAYS in advance of the announcement on a site only a very few consumers may even know about (I don’t check it), is not much of a leak! SJ is correct to be pleased that the nano stayed under wraps almost until the day of the announcement itself. No marketing damage was done. Most MDN people didn’t know about it. In this case, two DAYS in advance was not damagingly “premature” at all.

    Contrast that with the phone…

  6. And Kevin didn’t have all of the details right (like that it would also have a 4GB version, or that it would be available in 2 colors, etc), nor any photos or even an accurate description of the nano’s appearance either. So it wasn’t that much of a spoiler really anyway. Certainly not anything like the Mac mini leak was anyway.

  7. I’m with MacDude, speculation is one thing, exposing facts in advance is bad form – if you support Apple’s drive for innovation.

    Agree also with Joe that Nano is a great name… just watch it spawn myriads of new ‘Nano this’ and ‘Nano thats’…

    Hats off -again- to Apple.

  8. apple didn’t design the rokr, motorola did. what about that don’t you understand? if apple had designed it then steve would’ve announced it instead of the president of moto. why do people assum apple had anything to do with the design specs? they just designed the itune/ipod interface. none of the press has ever stated apple designed the thing. good god, man.

  9. There were reports about a larger capacity flash player from a Apple for a little while–adding the name, which Rose did, wasn’t all that great a hurt.

    What didn’t happen, and what Jobs must be referring to, is that no pictures of the thing leaked, unlike the phone.

    Saying “it is smaller and lighter” than the mini is okay, but seeing a photo is what makes someone (like..um..me..) say, “Time for a sixth ipod.”

    Strange MDN secret word coindence #2000- “look”

  10. let me ask a dumb question… does flash memory mean no moving parts?

    I apologize, it just continues to astound me how small things keep getting.

    I appreciate any answers that aren’t smart a$$!!!

    I really do want to know.

    cb

  11. MacDude, you posted some homosexual fantasy of yours at 1:45 PM and then came back at 4:01 PM to write :

    “Good Job:
    “Stupidity screws up my typing”

    Whose stupidity? Yours perhaps?
    It took you 3 attempts to type one simple sentence?”

    Did it really take you almost 3 hours to come up with that? And a more serious question, did you really sit there for 3 hours thinking of a halfway decent comeback?

    Wow!
    I was just joking around but you really are an idiot.
    I’m sorry to hear that.

  12. As a matter of fact, iMaki, I have it on good authority (a revelation by a very catholic lady) that God’s name is actually Albert (“Alberto,” she said) but the scripters thought that sounded too gay and unmarketable. Anyway, she’s always claiming he talks to her so I figured that if anyone knew, she would.

  13. Nice one, Troll!

    If god existed and Jesus was his son – none of which I believe – then do you religious nuts really think that these all-mighty creators of the universe would be insulted by someone using their names out of context.
    If you think your god is so petty, then you’re the one who is insulting him – or “taking his name in vain” to use that very absurd expression.
    Why is it that believers – of whatever religion (look at Salmon Rushdie’s case) – are so sensitive to what people say about their gods or prophets?
    I sense insecurity here.
    If I believed in god, then you would be welcome to say what you like about him/her or his son/daughter.
    I would be secure in my belief and that my god wasn’t oversensitive or paranoid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.