One day the iPod was everywhere, and the next it was nowhere. Yet the device that propelled Apple toward the iPhone may never be forgotten. It surprised the world that Apple, of all companies, produced a hit music player when so many others had failed. Then it shocked the world when Apple itself killed it off.
In retrospect, the iPod was a light bulb product. Suddenly it was switched on and it was everywhere, but then just as suddenly it was switched off and gone forever. Or nearly forever. It has now been a quarter of a century since the device was first announced on October 23, 2001, and since it first appeared in stores on November 10 that year. Many people remember it fondly, and some are still trying to relaunch it.
Either way, the iPod was enormously successful and enormously popular, and it changed the world in many ways before the device itself vanished. A quarter of a century on, the podcast industry it created and named remains as its legacy.
At the October 2001 event, Steve Jobs told reporters he had lured them there with the promise of a breakthrough digital device that was not a Mac. He first spent time hyping the Mac as the center of people's digital lives, demonstrating iTunes and iMovie. He then made the pitch the room had come for, explaining that Apple was starting with music because "we love music" and because music is a market that has always existed, making it a non-speculative bet.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing