Honestly speaking I am not a technology guy at all. I love technology and I follow it quite a bit but my interest lay more in the Sales and Market Share. It’s good to know the OS that my iPhone works on but that doesn’t excite me as much. Yet one thing that stuck in my throat like tiny fish-bone is that during all the hoopla, discussions, articles and blogs over major events of last decade, Apple iPod did not feature anywhere. Granted, iPhone – the more advanced progeny of iPod’s that can dial, was chosen as Time Device of the Year but I think the launch of ipod in early part of this decade was a seismic event in the whole of technological world.
The original iPod, if we are to look at it now, was bulky, squary and rather heavy. But within few months after lunch it was the coolest thing on the mother earth. It had big bright screen and just one button. And attractive white color. Seriously, who knew that White will be hip again? The user interface was out of world and music quality wasn’t bad either. Moreover, the memory could store hundreds of thousands of songs. The whole world of music listeners were turned upside down. The CD players were already heading towards yard sales yet no body thought that the digital music players will shift the gear so quickly that the first generation digital players of Sony et al. will become obsolete too.
The original iPods were, actually, quite heavy on the wallet . Compared to other digital players they were wickedly expensive. I guess that’s why market didn’t pay too much attention to the iPod advances. Moreover, Apple wasn’t pioneer in this market. Sony had good quality digital players in the market for quite some time. I remember me buying my Sony digital player that had no bright screen but worked just fine. But the designing department of Apple stole the show. The single button interface was just too much of a draw and soon whole of young generation decided to go broke to buy iPods.
The seamless interface between iPod and iTunes was another factor that played major role in boosting iPod sales. Apple won over host of music companies and completely upstaged the existing model of selling music. Apple successfully managed to create a viable and cheaper alternative to piracy. The ability to buy a single song for a buck or an album for 10 bucks was incredible. Just by click of a button you could buy your music, put into your iPod and boom, you go.
All this changed the technological market for good. The companies had been playing catch-up with Apple since then. The iPod went through another set of drastic changes, strengthening their iron grip on the market. Suddenly, every digital player had to have a bright screen with minimum number of buttons. The memory had to be in multiple gigabytes. But Apple wasn't done yet. It continued on the path and pulled out another rabbit - iPhones. A phone that can play music or the music player that can dial phone, however way you want to see it. And it had only one key! It was iPhone’s turn to revolutionize the phone industry. Now all the phones had to be smart phones. The phones are getting better and faster. The data, once a costly indulgence, is becoming a necessity. The apps have drastically changed the way we operate in our surroundings.
The whole set of events are so furious in pace that I think people haven’t realized that they went to at least three or four generation worth of change in a music and phone industry in less than one generation. And the pace is only going to pick up. The phones ceased to exist merely as a phone rather it transformed into a palm computer. (if only the original Palms had thought about adding phone to their palms!) And the music player that started it all simply remained just one more feature in an all powerful phone.
Yet imprints of iPod will be unmistakable in everything that’s currently available and everything that will come in the future. The simplicity of the interface, the hip and cool nature of the design and high powered multi-functionality are some of the factors that every future developer has to take into account. What’s important is that the ferocity with which iPod cut through the technology world created only positive ripples. I don’t think any other event in last decade can rival the satisfaction generated by iPod and iPodic products.
A revolution with no side effect is extremely rare and certainly warrants a high place on the pedestal.
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