IPod

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HISTORY

The name iPod is credited to Vinnie Chieco, a copywriter who was working with Apple's marketing team before it was released in 2001.^[1] Apple CEO Steve Jobs described the new product as a "hub," and the concept reminded Chieco of a spaceship that could send out pods which always had to come link up to the ship again later.^[1] That is essentially what you do when you sync your iPod to iTunes: return it to the mothership. The name was clinched when Chieco saw the white space-age design of the iPod and remembered a quote from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey: "Open the pod bay door, Hal!"^[1] The iPod's similarity in shape to the famous monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey coupled with the fact that it was released in 2001 makes this connection all the more interesting.

So that explains the "pod," but what about the "i"? The lower case "i" was first used in the name iMac, a colorful Apple computer that was released in 1998. Apple spokesmen claim that the "i" in iMac stood for "internet," since they were marketing this new computer to people who primarily wanted a computer for quick and easy internet access. The "i" can also stand for "individual," "instruct," "inform" and "inspire," all concepts that Apple hoped to promote with its new product.^[1] Alternatively, it can mean "I," as in the first person pronoun.^[1] Apple used the "i" to affiliate the new product with the popular iMac, and thus was born the name iPod.^[1] The name is properly spelled with a lower case "i" and an upper case "P," though the reason is unknown. The choice may have been made as an alternative to hyphenating the name I-pod and to avoid mispronunciation such as "ih-pod." The choice of lower case also reflects a trend in company names that began in the 1990s.

But when Apple tried to register the name iPod, they discovered that it had already been registered— by Apple! The name iPod had been assigned to a forgotten project to create public internet terminals.^[1] Apple was able to register the trademark iPod under the proper product description in 2003, after the iPod had become a roaring success.^[1]

PRODUCTS

• iPod Classic
• iPod Touch
• iPod Nano
• iPod Shuffle

SLOGANS

• "A thousand songs in your pocket." (2001)
• "Mini. The next big thing." (2004- iPod Mini)
• "The best keeps getting better." (2004)
• "10,000 songs in your pocket." (2004)
• "Life is random." (2005- iPod Shuffle)
• "Movies, TV shows, games, and music. Now playing on an iPod near you." (2006)
• "Millions of songs. Thousands of videos. Hundreds of games." (2008)^[1]

Author: Sarena Ulibarri

NOTES