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Behind The Development Of The iPod nano

Posted by Zonk on from the teeny-tiny-product dept.

bonch writes "A Time Magazine article on the behind-the-scenes development of the iPod nano reveals that development work began just nine months ago, when the iPod mini was still a top-seller. Every internal component was redesigned and packed into every millimeter of the space inside. Famed Apple designer Jonathan Ives spent months on the tiniest of details, like the laser-etching of the logo and the roughness of the clickwheel compared to the smoothness of the rest of the exterior. 'I know you're not going to consciously find these details particularly appealing," says Ives, 'but I think it's the fact that we've worried about all of them that makes the product so precious.'"

15 of 502 comments (clear)

  1. Danger, Slashdot, Danger! by Knight+Thrasher · · Score: 5, Funny
    Incoming "My Preciousss!" jokes!

    At any rate, my bet is that Apple didn't run their prototypes over with cars. Or did they??

    1. Re:Danger, Slashdot, Danger! by Praedon · · Score: 5, Funny

      No... but Creative and Microsoft seem to be stealing them out of trucks and running them over with the big rigs to ensure the sales don't get out.... they just can't quite reproduce the same results of throwing it up in the air a good 40 feet and letting gravity have its chance for distruction...

      --
      Just me
    2. Re:Danger, Slashdot, Danger! by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
      Incoming "My Preciousss!" jokes!

      What? You think we'd stoop to the level of must ... ree ... zist .... mere punsters? We can't the power ... strong .. too strong ... write something interesting, insightful or even can't hold out ... must hold out informative? You really think that? aaaaarrrggghhh You might have a point.

      one iRing to rule them all
      ahhh...
      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Engineers @ work by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

    "It's still not slim enough, give me the BFH.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. fingerprints! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know you're not going to consciously find these details particularly appealing," says Ives, 'but I think it's the fact that we've worried about all of them that makes the product so precious.'

    "At which point in the interview, Ives, began sandpapering his own fingerprints from his fingers in order to leave no smudges on The Precious."

    1. Re:fingerprints! by nsasch · · Score: 3, Funny

      My thoughts exactly. I bought a black nano and immediately, started rubbing the iPod clean with my cotton t-shirt. It then had a lot of tiny invisible scratches(except in the sun), on the metal and the black front and screen. Thankfully, the corner of the casing started coming lose after 2 days, so I exchanged it for a white iPod. I'm keeping it with the plastic cover and delicately resting on a tissue until the local Best Buy or Apple store gets Nano tubes (cases) in stock.

      The click wheel is worth ruining my ears for though. I can't resist in the middle of a song just to spin around the wheel back and forth every once in a while.

      --
      Make your computer faster: rm -rf /mnt/windows/
  4. Well, by Hawthorne01 · · Score: 4, Funny

    they certainly had some crappy ideas on design. :-)

    --
    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  5. New Units of Measurement by Comatose51 · · Score: 4, Funny
    The Nano is thinner than a pencil and lighter than two bucks in quarters.

    In addition to Libraries of Congress and football fields, today we add two need units of measurement: "pencil width" and "bucks in quarters". Alas, Google has yet to enter the new units into the search engine as this search produced no useful results. But just you wait! Apple has always been a trendsetter. Soon all the models will be listing their measurements in terms of pencils and weight in terms of bucks in quarters!

    --
    EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
    1. Re:New Units of Measurement by cowscows · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah LoC's are really just thrown out there to impress us, not to actually convey any meaningful information. Perhaps they should tell us how many atoms thick ipod nano is. Since I don't have an innate understanding of the size of an atom, that number will just bewilder me. Although since atoms are quite tiny, the number would seem rather large. So instead of the actual number of atoms, they should give a percentage compared to the number of atoms thick that a Toyota 4 runner is. Throw in some scientific notation, and I'll be so impressed that I'll go buy four of them. I have no idea what I'm talking about right now.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:New Units of Measurement by Humorously_Inept · · Score: 4, Funny

      I assume that the quarters in question are American, but I'm Canadian. How many Canadian quarters does the new iPod weigh? Google doesn't have this useful conversion measure either!

      I'm not going out of my way to sift through and collect eight American quarters out of my Canadian change!

      --

      ~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
    3. Re:New Units of Measurement by dtfarmer · · Score: 5, Funny

      How many Canadian quarters does the new iPod weigh?

      Well, the exchange rate is .847, so 8 american quarters is $2.36 canadian. Now, $2.36 canadian is obviously 9.44 canadian quarters....

      now I wish I was joking, but reality is actually pretty close to that number right there. The iPod nano is 1.5 ounces, which is around 42.5g. The weight of the statehood quarters is 5.67g (.20 ounces) so the nano is actually the weight of 7.5 quarters (which jives with the statement 'weighs less than 8 quarters.')

      So a quick check of canadian quarters looks like those minted in 1999 and earlier weighed 5.05g and those minted in 2000 and on are 4.4g. So using older pre-y2k quarters it's 8.42 quarters (or less than 9) - and new y2k+ quarters is 9.66 quarters (or less than 10, and pretty close to 9.44, eh?)

      Of course, I really just did all this to amuse myself being that I know you weren't expecting anyone to take your joke seriously...

  6. Re:I like the nano but... by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Funny
    What is the next BIG thing?

    Music worth listening to? Live organ donor transplants? Politicians that tell the truth? Apple users who aren't demented little toads?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. Dual Personality by EdwinBoyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's already calling the Nano his precious. Obviously the dual personality displayed by Gollum/Smeagol is beginning as well. "Tricksy little Ballmerses stoles our interfaces!!"

  8. Re:It's IVE, not IVES by richdun · · Score: 3, Funny

    Courier would be happy.

  9. Isn't there a Jonathan Ive in Cornwall? by stendec · · Score: 3, Funny
    Launcelot: Oh, yes, Jonathan Iiiiiiiiive.

    Several: Iiiiiiiiiiiiive.

    Bedevere: Oooohooohooooo!

    Launcelot: No no, aauuuugggh, at the back of the throat: aauuuugghhh.

    Bedevere: No, no, no, oooooooooooh in surprise and alarm.

    Launcelot: Oh, you mean a sort of AAAUUUGGHH?

    Oooh! OH NO! It's the legendry black beast of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!!