Apple Music Event 2001-The First Ever iPod Introduction

JoshuaG
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2010–2023
YouTube
6M views · 20 years ago · keynote · historical

Steve Jobs introduces the first iPod at Apple's October 2001 music event. He frames it as a music player that holds 1,000 songs in your pocket, rather than as another MP3 player.

HN points to it as a model of product announcement, with a clear pitch tying technology, art and music, and as a record of how Apple positioned the iPod.

“his announcement of the ipod was an incredible speech”
Product design & product thinkingIndustrial design
#stevejobs#ipod#apple#productlaunch#keynote

9 comments from Hacker News

h
@hans2016 · in “Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?”
o u said steve jobs: really his announcement of the ipod was an incredible speech .. it ties together tech+art+music+apple and his vision appears pretty fresh. ▶ this video
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t
@tomerico2010 · in “Steve Jobs First iPod Keynote (2001)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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h
@homarp2023 · in “Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer”
kind of... he had it in his pocket: ▶ this video but Steve is a showman and Tim is coordinator.
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S
@Someone2022 · in “The Windows 11 taskbar is an annoying step backward”
> There's a circus about them that permits them to stomp out history And how do you think they would do that? Apple sometimes uses a bit of hyperbole to describe itself (link), but I don’t think Apple ever claimed "Apple invented the mouse" or they had "the first mp3 player" or "the first smartphone". I also have never met anybody who made such claims, only people saying there are people who make such claims. It also would be weird for them to do so. Their marketing differentiates their products from the competition, and has been doing that for years. The competition sells MP3 players, the iPod was a _music_player_ or just the iPod (look at ▶ this video and count how often Steve says music before he says mp3. [1]); the iPhone an iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device (link), the iPad just the iPad. [1] There’s a claim in hat video that Apple invented FireWire. I think that is mostly correct. They were the driving force there.
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d
@danaris2021 · in “Apple unveils new iPad mini with breakthrough performance in new design”
This has been the case since 2007 with "iPhone"...which mimicked the naming for "iPod" since 2001 [0]...which mimicked the naming of "iMac" since 1998 [1]. All of these, of course, go back to Steve Jobs' introduction of "Macintosh" in 1984 [2]. [0] ▶ this video [1] link [2] link
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s
@sillysaurus32017 · in “Apple Store currently down”
Apple was still floundering when they inro'd the iPod.▶ this video It's remarkable how small the room was. But I don't think it was small due to exclusivity.
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t
@tolmasky2013 · in “Wozniak: Facts in Steve Jobs movie look 'atrocious'”
Seems strange to leave out the iPhone product announcement, especially since the iPod announcement was pretty low key ( ▶ this video ), and was not an obvious hit at the event. Compare that to the iPhone announcement where everyone went wild right then and there, and truly felt like the culmination of Steve's vision of what computing should become (the iPod in retrospect seemed more like a side project that didn't really "mesh" with his general philosophy on computing).
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b
@brudgers2012 · in “Stop building apps no one wants”
"People trust the Apple brand...iMac, iBook, iPod, " - Steve Jobs introduces the iPod at the 2001 Music Event. ▶ this video
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s
@shmichael2010 · in “Apple’s iPad Just a Big iPod Touch”
The iPod wasn't another MP3 player. It was the MP3 player, featuring the most songs in the least amount of space. For mobile devices, this makes a big difference. Compare the iPad launch video from today with the original iPod launch: ▶ this video The iPhone was the first phone capable enough and attractive enough for third-party applications. It came two years ahead of competition. The iPad comes after the Kindle, and alongside plans from Microsoft and others to launch their own tablets.
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