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A Prototype Original iPod

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Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#71

Post by reaperducer »

MBCook wrote: post #40
macNchz wrote: post #17

Hard to believe it has been 20 years. When talking about the impact of the original iPod on the last two decades of Apple's extraordinary success, I like to jump back to this forum thread from October 23rd 2001 (it is always easy to find because it is thread number 500!) and see the reactions from the time: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.5...

It became so popular, especially after it was officially available on Windows in 2003. And it remained THE thing until the iPhone really exploded when unleashed from AT&T around 2011. It’s heyday was only about 8 years but it had such a MASSIVE effect on the technology and music industries. Has any other product been so important but only been around for a relatively short amount of time?

the iPhone really exploded when unleashed from AT&T around 2011.

Cingular.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#72

Post by nsxwolf »

macNchz wrote: post #67
handrous wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a reasonable criticism if one sees 90+% of somewhat-capable portable Internet devices in the hands of business users who will all want/need exchange support, and assumes that's the market for such devices. If, on the other hand, it creates a new market for such devices among people who couldn't tell you what MS Exchange is....

I always felt it was a good demonstration of staying disciplined and focusing on making a great consumer product first–looking too closely at the competition and building in a bunch of enterprise-friendly features from the start could have been a big distraction and resulted in a mediocre product in other ways.

When I got the first phone I saw it as the way forward for a phone UI, and I loved the iPod app. But the thing was mostly a tech demo. It was far less useful than every other smart phone on the market at the time. Slow Internet, bare bones maps, no MMS. Way too slow of a CPU for what it was trying to do.

All worked out fairly quickly once the 3GS came around.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#73

Post by rjsw »

geerlingguy wrote: post #70
rjsw wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an ASUS WindowsXP laptop with firewire, it worked well with an iPod.

There were a number of 'media' laptops that had "i.Link" ports (advertised that way by Sony), but you still had to buy adapter cables for it. It was a little bit of a mess but you could make it work.

I didn't have to buy anything extra, the iPod came with a 4-connector to 6-connector adapter.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#74

Post by amelius »

marcellus23 wrote: post #48
amelius wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny thing is, Apple claims that they need to integrate everything from hardware to software in order to obtain the best possible user experience. This shows that this is complete nonsense. We could break up Apple into a hardware and software company and little would change in this respect.

> This shows that this is complete nonsense. Uh, what? This makes no sense. It's not like the entire hardware and software teams were totally firewalled. Obviously higher ups and managers were in both circles and coordinated the development of both.

Yes, so if Apple were divided into separate hardware and software companies, then a third company X could order both these companies to come up with hardware and software solutions, and reach the same result. In this case, what you call management would be performed by the third company.

This is imho a better way of building things than having everything completely integrated in a single company. A fourth company could do the same thing as X and build an alternative iPod. And so could a fifth, etc.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#75

Post by crate_barre »

macNchz wrote: post #67
handrous wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a reasonable criticism if one sees 90+% of somewhat-capable portable Internet devices in the hands of business users who will all want/need exchange support, and assumes that's the market for such devices. If, on the other hand, it creates a new market for such devices among people who couldn't tell you what MS Exchange is....

I always felt it was a good demonstration of staying disciplined and focusing on making a great consumer product first–looking too closely at the competition and building in a bunch of enterprise-friendly features from the start could have been a big distraction and resulted in a mediocre product in other ways.

Apple takes the Nintendo approach. Myamota/Iwata mentioned that they always try to imagine what it’s like for a non-gamer to play the game. The way they simulated that in their testing was by playing their games with their non-dominant hand (left handed). That’s what it feels like to a casual user or non-gamer. They optimize for that.

The guy that needs MS Exchange is actually a niche market (hard to believe). It’s that click wheel that brought in everybody in the world. Your mother isn’t going to figure out those Creative/Rio MP3 players from the early 2000s.

This honestly takes incredible faith in what you think is cool. I’m not good at because I usually go ‘eh, this is my thing that I’m into, and you won’t get it’. But these people don’t think like that, they go out of their way to show you why it’s cool, in whatever way possible. They are literally trying to reach people.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#76

Post by Spooky23 »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #24
macNchz wrote: post #17

Hard to believe it has been 20 years. When talking about the impact of the original iPod on the last two decades of Apple's extraordinary success, I like to jump back to this forum thread from October 23rd 2001 (it is always easy to find because it is thread number 500!) and see the reactions from the time: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.5...

My favorite remains Slashdot's Editor-in-Chief CmdrTaco's "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." (shared with <3, it really shows how us geeks had/have no sense of the popularity of a tech product)

I think his take was right. The iPod was good, but iTunes was great.

The ecosystem made the iPod.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#77

Post by _jal »

amelius wrote: post #74
marcellus23 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This shows that this is complete nonsense. Uh, what? This makes no sense. It's not like the entire hardware and software teams were totally firewalled. Obviously higher ups and managers were in both circles and coordinated the development of both.

Yes, so if Apple were divided into separate hardware and software companies, then a third company X could order both these companies to come up with hardware and software solutions, and reach the same result. In this case, what you call management would be performed by the third company. This is imho a better way of building things than having everything completely integrated in a single company. A fourth company cou…

> This is imho a better way of building things than having everything completely integrated in a single company.

Sounds like you should run your firm that way, then.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#78

Post by moron4hire »

crate_barre wrote: post #75
macNchz wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always felt it was a good demonstration of staying disciplined and focusing on making a great consumer product first–looking too closely at the competition and building in a bunch of enterprise-friendly features from the start could have been a big distraction and resulted in a mediocre product in other ways.

Apple takes the Nintendo approach. Myamota/Iwata mentioned that they always try to imagine what it’s like for a non-gamer to play the game. The way they simulated that in their testing was by playing their games with their non-dominant hand (left handed). That’s what it feels like to a casual user or non-gamer. They optimize for that. The guy that needs MS Exchange is actually a niche market (hard to believe). It’s t…

I hate this "your mother can't..." ageist and sexist bullshit. Maybe your mother can't. Nobody tells my mother (who is now also a grandmother) what she can and can't do.

Honestly, lots of people were able to figure those devices out. People aren't really as stupid as programmers make them out to be. But coddle them and keep beating them over the head with this and they likely just give up from being treated like shit.

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#79

Post by em500 »

macNchz wrote: post #17

Hard to believe it has been 20 years. When talking about the impact of the original iPod on the last two decades of Apple's extraordinary success, I like to jump back to this forum thread from October 23rd 2001 (it is always easy to find because it is thread number 500!) and see the reactions from the time: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.5...

During the heydays of the iPod craze, around 2005-2008, I was convinced that product line would be short lived. It was apparent that music playing was a trivial application of mobile phones, which were already becoming ubiquitous. In those days, Nokia was a far bigger cultural phenomenon outside of North America (where Nokia never gained much of a foothold). And it was truly global, not just European: even tiny villages in rural Asia, Africa and South America had Nokia vendors.

So in my straightforward projection, it was only a matter of time before the iPod would be crushed by the likes of Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, LG, etc. Never did I imagine that Apple would turn the tables on the phone manufacturers so dramatically after 2008...

Re: A Prototype Original iPod

#80

Post by amelius »

_jal wrote: post #77
amelius wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, so if Apple were divided into separate hardware and software companies, then a third company X could order both these companies to come up with hardware and software solutions, and reach the same result. In this case, what you call management would be performed by the third company. This is imho a better way of building things than having everything completely integrated in a single company. A fourth company cou…

> This is imho a better way of building things than having everything completely integrated in a single company. Sounds like you should run your firm that way, then.

How would you feel if (hypothetically speaking) Samsung bought TSMC and thereby pushed Apple and other smartphone/laptop vendors out of the market?

Wouldn't you agree that it is better if all companies have equal access to TSMC's services?

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