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Birth of the iPod

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the little-bit-of-history dept.

b00le writes "There's a little story over at Wired about the genesis of the iPod from the point of view of Ben Knauss, a former senior manager at PortalPlayer, the company Apple Computer approached to help develop its player. There's some nice gossip about The Steve's involvement in the project, the extreme secrecy and so on, but for me, the kicker comes at the end: 'Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success. "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.' "

10 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. And the winner ... by Alranor · · Score: 5, Funny

    of the understatement of the year contest goes to:

    "It was probably a mistake,"

  2. The Pete Best of the iPod by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 5, Funny

    And now he's with M$

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  3. Tee Hee by USAPatriot · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...because he had no confidence it would be a success. "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.' "

    No kidding, he's not alone.

    Here's what our very own illustrious CmdrTaco said at the time, " No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

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    Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.

  4. Whoops! by holzp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success.

    The article should be titled 'IClod'.

  5. strange... by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's strange that after so many years of making great computer hardware Apple's niche is almost redefined for them via a glorified walkman. No, that's not flamebait, but merely an oversimplification. Still, this is part of Steve's overall 'digital hub' theory, so the Macs still fit in, it just feels like they're getting a bit more out of focus compared to the extranious hardware.

    CB

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    free ipod and free gmail!
  6. It was interesting to note... by CrackedButter · · Score: 5, Interesting


    ...that IBM had an idea which incorporated bluetooth headphones, makes me wonder why Apple didn't do it, and that was in 2001! But don't get on at me for how it would effect the ipod's battery life, the ipod *could* be a little bigger to take a bigger battery and then we could all be happy.

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    Jonathanjk.com
  7. Love this part on Jobs' influence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Knauss said Jobs' influence was sometimes idiosyncratic. For example, the iPod is louder than most MP3 players because Jobs is partly deaf, he said. "They drove the sound up so he could hear it," Knauss said

    That's why the iPod goes to 11!

  8. Re:Hindsight 20/20 by Hungus · · Score: 5, Funny
    Yeah this is one of my favourite comments from that article's posting:
    Re:I'm buying one purely for the tiny firewire hd (Score:1)
    by Lars T. (470328) on Tuesday October 23, @05:48PM (#2469232)

    The iMac will never sell.
    Okay, I was wrong, but the iBook will never sell.
    Okay, I was wrong about the iBook too, but the iPod will never sell.
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    Lars T.
    I certainly hope he was trying to be funny. Otherwise, how did that crow taste Lars?
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  9. Understandable by cubicledrone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Business is relentlessly cynical. I would guess that the iPod was constantly ridiculed during development, and that there were numerous attempts (all driven by office politics, no doubt) to cancel the project.

    Nothing will work. Nothing will make money. Nobody wants to buy it. Nobody cares. Everything sucks. It's so hard to make money (announced in a $3 million conference room) It'll never work. What makes you think people will buy it? What makes you think you're qualified to work here? Blah blah blah.

    It's so predictable any more it's almost comedy. It is truly amazing that anything new is developed at all. Try taking a new product to a bank for a loan to manufacture it. I can hear the whining already. Every single word is predictable. After a while it becomes truly redundant and very difficult to listen to.

    Oh, what wonders have been lost to society for office politics and lack of capital.

    --
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  10. I agree with Taco by tunabomber · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean just think of what the iPod COULD have been. Along with the lack of wireless, I was also pissed that Apple left out the following features:

    -The ability to create a Beowulf cluster of multiple iPods. Just imagine- a render farm on the go!
    -AltiVec Velocity Engine
    -Videoconferencing
    -floppy drive
    -alpha-channel transparency (c'mon this is APPLE we're talking about here!)
    -"eject" button- in the current iPod, you would have to drag the disk to the trash in order to eject it!
    -The ability to interface with ANY Swedish vibrator.
    -Support for Ogg Vorbis AND Ogg Theora.
    -Drivers for Linux/BSD/Hurd.
    -Gyroscopically-controlled 3D pointing device.
    -The ability to modulate subliminal messages into the music that will make me stop being so damn fat.
    -Support for both the NX (no-execute) AND Evil bits.

    WTF? Is that too much to ask!

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