Seven years ago today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the original 5GB iPod, a $399 hard drive-based MP3 player with a unique Scroll Wheel and bright white LCD interface, an amazingly pocketable size, and high-speed FireWire for synchronization and charging. The first-generation iPod actually shipped on November 10, 2001, going on to sell 125,000 units by year’s end.
Apple now has sold more than 174 million iPods, spanning five distinct models—iPod/iPod classic, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod touch, and has seen countless advancements in capacity and features, even while falling in price. It has also played a major part in Apple’s remarkable growth from a struggling computer company to a major consumer electronics manufacturer, inspiring the iPhone and helping boost sales of the company’s Mac computers.
From all of us at iLounge to Apple’s iPod teams, past and present, congratulations on your seventh birthday. We will be here to celebrate many, many more.
