Why is that? Because the iPod is a portable device for downloading audio/video from the internet iTunes Web site and it’s manufactured by Apple Computer, inc. Before the arrival of this practical mini computer, Mp3 players were either big and clunky or small and useless. But Tony Fadell, an independent inventor, had something else in mind. And Apple saw the opportunity and hired the talented inventor, in early 2001. He was offered a team of 30 people to work with and a deadline of one year to bring his idea to life, and release a profitable product. The company was so confident in the success of their product that even Steve Jobs was actively involved in the development of the project and the secrecy of this invention was maintained at all costs.
The first iPods used 5 Gb Toshiba hard drives, and instead of using skip buttons, the users could spin a wheel on the front of the device to scroll through the list of songs, in order to find the song the users wanted to play. The same wheel would also apply to control the menus of the system. As a result, it was much easier to navigate through the iPod's playlist than other MP3 players. Even tough the reactions in America were confused and hostile, critics lambasted the $400 price tag, the unconventional scroll wheel and the lack of Windows compatibility, in Europe the iPod sold beyond everyone's expectations and went on to revolutionize the entire music industry. And this was only the first generation of this product. A month later a 10 Gb version was introduced to the public.
In early 2005 the company introduced the iPod shuffle. The new cute player was the size of a pack of gum and cost for $99 (for the 512 MB version). This made it a great value among MP3 players, with most comparably priced players providing half the capacity. For this reason the profit of the company quadrupled mostly because of the iPod. But the story doesn’t end there. The company went on improving this technological gem and in September 2005 they released the iPod Nano (as tiny as it can be). And in October 2005 the fifth generation of iPods is presented to the audience. The 5G iPod is up to 30% thinner than previous models, although the other dimensions are the same, and it was the first full-sized iPod that didn't include FireWire support.
The entire IPod line was updated in 2008 and even tough they generally remained the sane improving mostly just the color palette, the designers also introduced a cool new feature: "shake to shuffle" - because there are no moving parts, users can shake the iPod to have it shuffle to another track.
Ten years of history. Ten years of full success.
And the rest? Well I guess we will have to wait and see what other improvements this company will bring to its products. I can assure you this will be fun.