These day , when Steve Jobs takes the stage to announce a raw iPod , there are typically thousands of people on hand , as the jam descends upon wherever Apple is reserve its launching consequence to associate the details to millions of user waiting to see what the company has in store . Theoriginal iPod ’s debutwas a bit different — just a hundred tempt guest or so at Apple ’s Cupertino headquarters to see Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil a 5 GB medicine participant . And while the assembled audience was enthusiastic , it for certain was n’t on par with the hollering and cheering you ’ll get wind at iPod events these days .
“ primitively it had fairly humble ambitions , ” recalled Ross Rubin , director of psychoanalysis at NPD Group . “ It was stand for to be something that would get Mac users into the store at a clock time when there was pretty slow growth in the microcomputer manufacture . This was operate to be a overnice holiday offering for Apple , but it was sort of an incentive to get users excited . ”
substance abuser got excited all right — to the tune of 125,000 iPods in less than two month after the machine started shipping . full iPod sales agreement have shot well past 67 million inthe five years since the machine launched . And with a recent round of updates to theentireiPodline , potent sales of the music participant figure to preserve in the near future .
But on the iPod ’s fifth anniversary , it ’s worth looking back to see how the hand-held machine got to the lofty position it enjoys today .
Reinventing the ( scroll ) wheel
The MP3 player was not a novel approximation when the iPod came out — there were plenty of others on the food market , most notably SonicBlue ’s Rio , Creative ’s Nomad , and the Archos Jukebox . But the iPod fascinate the gist and mind of the public like no other twist since the Sony Walkman .
Unlike the Walkman , the iPod had to touch base to the computer to download songs , so there was an spare footprint that Apple had to simplify for users . But this footstep proved to be where the iPod distinguished itself from the contention .
“ The key to the iPod ’s achiever has been the tightly integrate ironware , software and services , ” say Roger Kay , prexy of the market - research firm Endpoint Technologies Associates . “ So , the software is the iPod operating software and the iTunes practical software ; the computer hardware is the iPod and related to accessories ; and the table service is the iTunes Music Store . It all works like a appealingness . ”
With the computer hardware and software system in home , Apple was on its path to dominating the MP3 player space . In 2003 , it established a like chokehold over the market for legally download music by set up the iTunes Music Store .
But as significant as those steps were , releasing Windows versions of both the iPod and the online store really opened the floodgates for Apple ’s consumer success . With the firing of iTunes for Windows and an iPod format for the operating system , Apple became more than a niche electronic computer - shaper with a another cool gimmick . It was propel into an iconic brand that were known the domain over for making the nerveless MP3 shimmer on the marketplace .
“ The iPod has certainly raised the awareness of Apple and opened up the brand to consumers that may have had misconception about the Mac and may not have considered it in the past tense , ” Rubin said .
squeeze the nimbus
This phenomenon became known as the “ iPod Halo Effect . ” Would iPod user become so enthralled with their diminutive medicine player that they may moot purchasing a Macintosh ? It seems that is exactly what happened .
“ After a lot of aspirant thought , [ the iPod ] has even helped regenerate Apple ’s computer business , ” Kay say .
As mentioned , in the first fourth the iPod was available Apple shipped 125,000 whole over two calendar month — not unfit for a fresh medicine machine . That quarter Apple also shipped 746,000 Macs and reported a profit of $ 38 million .
skim forrader five years to the fiscal fourth - quarter of 2006 . Apple reported a profit of $ 546 million ; it shipped 8.7 million iPods and 1.6 million Macs .
The iPod is sure as shooting credited with having an affect on those issue over the years , but as NPD ’s Ross Rubin luff out Apple has not bury the Mac .
“ There have been a number of things on the Mac side that have helped their cause in the past few years , ” Rubin added . “ For instance , the industrial design , a successful Intel changeover and the Apple Stores , to name just a few . ”
The future
Where does the iPod go from here ?
The iPod continues the be the pet of consumers , but Apple does have some competition on the celestial horizon . Microsoft is stupefy fructify tolaunch its Zune multimedia system player , but that may not be the biggest threat to Apple ’s dominance .
“ intelligibly in terms of the overall category the bigger competition is prison cell earphone , ” Rubin said . “ It is the one equipment people have with them all the fourth dimension . ”
Rubin also warned that while many scoff at the Zune , Microsoft ’s entry into the market should not be taken softly . “ While from a tech and design point of view the Zune may not represent a dramatic exit , Microsoft is a very serious competitor , ” he tot . “ Microsoft will persist in the market for many years and spend one thousand thousand of dollars to promote the Zune . ”
With its rumored newly redesigned video iPod on the way and the launch of movie purchases from the iTunes Store , neither analyst thinks that Apple will lose its authority in the near future . However , the society ’s overall share of the market could decline with the added contender .
“ It would be raw for its portion to decline in the fount of increase competition , ” Endpoint ’s Kay said . “ Companies that found market often cede some share after an initial period of dominance . Vista and related to technologies , not to mention Zune , will in all probability give Apple a run for its money . That ’s OK , though . Because even as it concede some share , the company can keep right on growing its iPod business for many yr and will likely be the dominant thespian for the foreseeable future . ”
From effectual music download to a ocean of white headphones in officious cities around the globe , the iPod has changed the way consumers think of buying and take heed to medicine .
“ The iPod was the touchstone product that really get home how metier was becoming digital , ” Rubin said .
