October 23, 2001: Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the first iPod, a device capable of storing an entire music library in a highly portable package.
The first-generation device boasts a 5GB hard drive capable of putting “1,000 songs in your pocket.” That may not sound too dazzling in a world in which people can stream the massive Apple Music library from their iPhones, but it was a game-changer at the time!
First iPod changes the course of Apple history
Before the iPhone put the internet in everyone’s pocket, the iPod put 1,000 songs there — and changed the music business along the way. When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s first iPod on this day in 2001, the company was still best known for Macs, and a portable music player might have seemed like an unlikely detour.
However, the sleek white device helped turn digital music from a messy collection of files into something people could carry, curate and buy with ease. The iPod became a cultural phenomenon, laid important groundwork for the iTunes Music Store and helped transform Apple from a computer maker into a consumer electronics powerhouse. In hindsight, it wasn’t just a new gadget. It was a rehearsal for the iPhone revolution to come.
Much as the iPhone was Apple’s attempt to reinvent mobile phones, the iPod was the company’s attempt at creating an MP3 player that wasn’t horrible to use. The concept took advantage of a brand-new 1.8-inch hard drive under development by Toshiba. Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s senior VP of hardware engineering at the time, took the new storage device to Steve Jobs and convinced him that the technology existed to build an amazing portable music player.
As CEO of Apple, Jobs received much of the credit for the iPod at the time. But the revolutionary device’s creation was truly a collaborative effort. In addition to Rubinstein, Apple engineer Tony Fadell oversaw development of the hardware. Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing director, came up with the idea of using a scroll wheel to navigate song lists.
And the name “iPod” came from a freelance copywriter, Vinnie Chieco, who recalled the famous 2001: A Space Odyssey line, “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.”
Watch the original iPod launch
Steve Jobs unveiled the first-gen iPod a little over a month after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, referring to it as a “breakthrough digital device.” He wasn’t wrong, and the iPod launch became an important milestone in Apple history.
“Music is a part of everyone’s life,” Jobs said at the time. “And because it’s a part of everyone’s life, it’s a very large target market all around the world.”
The small white iPod cost $399. Compared to pricey devices like the $1,999 iPhone Duo, that seems decidedly cheap for Apple, circa 2026. (Adjusted for inflation, it’s the equivalent of $760 today.) However, some skeptics still lambasted the device.
“All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device?” wrote one infamous online commenter with an apparent typo fetish. “The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve’s mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.”
First iPod launch paves way for Apple’s bigger focus on music
Photo: Newsweek
In the end, the iPod became a massive hit for Apple. By 2007, Cupertino sold its 100 millionth iPod. That made it Apple’s most popular product until the iPhone came along later that year. The digital music player helped drive the success of the iTunes Music Store, which quickly became America’s top music retailer.
More than two decades after the first iPod’s launch, Apple finally shut down the product line on May 10, 2022. That’s the date Apple pulled the plug on the iPod touch, the final iteration of which was released in May 2019. (That model came with up to 256GB of storage — more than 50 times that of the first-generation iPod.)
While Apple moved beyond the iPod, the revolutionary MP3 player remains baked into Cupertino’s DNA. The company’s focus on music led to Apple Music, one of the most popular music streaming services in the world. And the iPod’s iconic white earbuds, which became synonymous with the gadget, evolved into the ultra-successful AirPods.
What was the first iPod you owned? Let’s hear your memories in the comments below.
