Filed under: iPod Family
How the iPod was really born
Wired News puts all the misinformation to rest about how the iPod entered the world with the Straight Dope on the iPod's Birth. It's an interesting read for those of you who may not know the full story. Inspired by a tiny 1.8-inch hard drive that Toshiba had no plans for and the desire coax people into buying more Macs, a digital music dynasty was born. Bonus tidbit: We have everyone's favorite marketing honcho, Phil Schiller, to thank for the iPod's signature scroll wheel and the more distinguishable feature that makes the iPod's menus scroll faster the longer the wheel is turned. And the name iPod? It actually came from an earlier Internet kiosk project that Apple had already abandoned but still held the registered name for.
In case you needed reminding, the iPod's 5th birthday is coming up next week, which explains why the Mac web is paying even more attention to the iPod than usual.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stuart said 11:30AM on 10-17-2006
I'll have to wish mine a happy birthday then, I've the first generation 5gb with a real scroll wheel model. I was asked a few times on a train "What is that?".
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Michael Muller said 4:15PM on 10-17-2006
Nice finding. I have always wondered how this began... And btw, does anyone know what the "i" in every Apple product means?? (iPod, iTunes, iChat, etc...)
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Stuart said 5:40PM on 10-17-2006
Apple declared the "i" in iMac to stand for "Internet". Apple later adopted the "i" prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac
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Alex said 9:35PM on 10-17-2006
what day is its birthday?
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