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How Jobs turned the iPod into an icon |
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Monday, 30 May 2005 |
How Jobs
turned the iPod into an icon
The Sunday
Times - UK
STEVE JOBS knew that he needed something stunningly new to revitalise
Apple. Additions to the Macintosh computer line, taking advantage of the latest
improvements in technology and the internet — all this was fine, but it wasn’t
enough. He was looking for something else, something big.
Eventually, his eye lit on the music scene. Music, he said, “is in our DNA.
Everybody loves it. This isn’t a speculative market.”
The Macworld Expo in San Francisco at the beginning of 2001 marked a turning
point for Apple, extending the company into digital music and photography. The
new product Jobs was announcing was called iTunes. It wasn’t the first in the
field, and it offered many of the same features as the SoundJam MP application
it was based on.
But the difference was unmistakable. In every project Jobs had been connected
with, he expounded on the need for elegance, ease of use, and artistry of
design. iTunes was no exception.
With it, Macintosh users could copy tracks from a CD on to their computer, from
where they could select any one and play it in an instant. They could also
download MP3 music files from the internet. Even better, owners of portable MP3
players such as the popular Rio could use iTunes to download songs to the
player.
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