Tony Fadell posted a photograph of an early iPod prototype:
”I handed Steve Jobs this model in our first meeting. Inside were my grandfathers´s fishing-line sinkers to give him a feel for its weight. The first iPod shipped 9 months later. It looked and weighed a lot like the model.”
2026-03-08
In 2021 Cabel Sasser of Panic fame posted images of some early iPod prototypes. Regarding the size, Cabel writes “It also has the Jobsian side-benefit of keeping the engineers in the dark about what the final device will look like” which is likely true. The prototype is dated 9th of March 2001, only seven months ahead of the public release.
In 2022 Tony Fadell posted this photograph of early iPod shell prototypes.
2022-05-09
Yesterday Apple announced the company will no longer produce new iPod Touch units, effectively putting an end to the 20 year old iPod product range.
I remember my first iPod, a bondi blue iPod Mini, with visceral excitement. I can recall the weight of its polished steel enclosure; the magical instant-response interface;the genius simplicity of the scroll wheel; the array of sometimes strange but always creative accessories. The iPod socks, the universal dock, iPod shuffle, and the iPod HiFi.
What will be the next iPod?
