In the late ’90s and early aughts, MP3 players were known, well, as MP3 players.
However, when Apple launched the iPod on October 21, 2001, it was such a huge success that it only took a couple of years for most people to simply start using the name “iPod” whenever they referred to an MP3 player.
Apple had sold 125,000 iPods by the end of 2001; it sold a flabbergasting 225 million by 2010.
Coupled with the music management/online music store one-two punch that was iTunes, the iPod turned out to be one of the most successful gadgets of all time.
In the amazing infographic after the jump, you can see the rise of the iPod and iTunes and how they’ve affected our lives over the last nine years.
It’s true: The rest of the MP3 market never stood a chance.
Spotted at Mashable
Luca Massaro is a London based digital marketing professional who specialises in personal and brand development using social media.
3 Comments
Interesting article. I remember my dad buying an MP3 back in the early days. If I am not mistaken, it may still be lying around.
Since 2006, I've been purchasing the one Apple product I could just about afford. My first iPod was a pink iPod Mini, in which I can remember some of the songs from my first playlist (I get nostalgia about Gisela – the iPod's name, whenever I hear a song from that playlist). Just think, the screen had no colour, but, there was the wheel – that clicked! My second was an iPod Photo, which I had bought second hand from eBay c.2007/8. This was exciting. I needn't be ashamed of having a 'small' iPod anymore. Then there was the iPod Video – another eBay purchase which I never recieved – a con? After a period without an iPod, I purchased an iPod Classic., which I sold about 7 months later, and I won an iPod Touch about a month or two later.
Inbetween my dad did by me music players, with one even being an MP5 from China. But still, I wasn't satisfied. Not if it wasn't an iPod. I was bitten by the Apple bug! All those times in which I stated that I would never get an iPod again, all the stress and anger they put me through when the battery acted up, or it would not update on iTunes. There were times when I even considered getting a Creative 'Zen', but I never went though with it.
Even with iTunes. I went through phases of buying my music from iTunes, staying within the 'legal' barrier.
Even now, I have an iPhone, which I hated the concept of when it was first revealed (as with the iPad which I have now warmed to). Even though I could have gotten another smartphone with more minutes to offer on acheaper contract – it had to be…Apple.
10 years ago, I never would have known I'd be spending so much money on Apples.
Thanks for the comment SOW.
It sounds like you have become part of the Apple 'tribe'.
None of us would have expected to buy into the Apple product range so much, but with it being so pioneering and also trendy in most aspects, it becomes second nature to just have one.
Have you seen my recent post about Apple products? http://www.iamluca.co.uk/mac-iphone-ipad-works-yo…
Thanks again for reading and for your comment.
Speak soon
I want that as a poster! Thanks for the heads up on the post, so true. I really want an iPad to use whilst laying in bed. The iPhone is just too small for bedtime browsing and I have fallen asleep with my Macbook Pro upon me, only to wake up with a pretty sore burn mark on my skin!
3 Trackbacks
Blog: The iPod Domination! http://www.iamluca.co.uk/ipod-domination/
This is AMAZING!! http://www.iamluca.co.uk/ipod-domination/
Blog: The iPod Domination! http://bit.ly/dzwZ1L