“When the iPod was announced, few people outside the walls of Apple saw a product that would dominate the the portable music player market. Yet, rivals have come and gone, and the ones that remain appear content to fight over the small slice of the market Apple doesn’t own,” Rick LePage writes for Playlist.
“There is one single, overarching reason that the iPod has enjoyed the success that it has: Apple had a plan, followed through on it, and didn’t deviate from it over time. It made a simple product that to this day performs the same task that it did on the day it was announced. It might do other things today, but those are secondary. The iPod was all about the music,” LePage writes. “But digging a bit deeper, here are five interlinked factors that helped create the iPod phenomenon, one for each year of the music player’s existence:”
1. Total integration
2. The interface
3. Windows support
4. The iTunes Store
5. FairPlay
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Stoo” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple iPod celebrates fifth birthday – October 22, 2006
Apple iPod turns 5: How did a little gadget have such a big impact? – October 20, 2006
Happy Birthday iPod!
I have owned 4 of you now (not because any broke or had any battery issues – just wanted newer ones!), and have loved every minute of it… The iPod has changed the way I listened to music, and I look forward to it altering the way I watch video as well!
Thanks for the great technology Apple!
(yay! first post – ever – for me)
This article omits the dock connector, which allowed for the iPod economy, making the iPod a platform supporting thousands of accessories — that’s one of the reasons it succeeded.
It’s MY birthday (yes it is) and i’ll pod if i want too, pod if I want too…
My 3rd Gen’s scroll wheel died (clicked OK) and I thought it was a gonner, so I bought a 5.5 Gen. Then I send my 3rd Gen to iPodRepairUK (no connection) and they fixed it in days. Now I can’t work out which one to use and which one to give to the wife!
Moral: if your iPod fails in any way past warranty – don’t complain or throw it away, get it fixed!
izod…looks like you will have to keep on trying.
I have bought or have gone through 10 ipods. I have had battery issues with two. One original but was replaced after a year. One third generation but I just bought a new battery, cracked the case ipen myself and replaced it. Works like new. These and others are distributed among friends and family (mine is a 60 Gb). So apart from those two glitches, all are running fine and EVERYBODY loves them.
iPod forced car makers to add an MP3 connector to the stereo systems. This is one of the reasons I bought my wife a Saturn. Aple produces cool products that I still marvel how they can have such a wide ranging inpact, whether it is movie studis to car manufacturers.
Apparent Microsoft is having the same impact but on the pharmaceutical industry who is hoping to become rich by developing a new type of kao-pectate or immodium for people getting the Zune.
Buster!
How do you spell relief?
Z-U-N-E-A-I-D-S…
or
Pepto-ZuneAll??
I still have my first gen iPod I bought 4 years 11 months ago (the battery is just fine still). Am holding out for the mythical “full-screen” iPod (if that baby ever shows)… My uber-expensive iPod “photo” is still going great!
I still have (and use) my 1st Gen iPod every day. I fitted it with a new battery about a year ago. I bought a 5th Gen but the sound quality was poor compared to my 1st Gen. 5th Gen lacks bass and body!
Heres to many more years with my 1st Gen…