Last updated on 2012-03-28, by Tony

Ten Year Evolution Of iPod

The hottest issue at present in IT industry is the patent battle between Apple and Motorola. Apple was accused of three patents violations by Motorola while Motorola was suspected of violating three patents of Apple. However, with its 12.5 billion dollars plan to buy Motorola, Google surprisingly took part in this batter. Since the debut of The new iPad, Apple draws the world’s attention again.

So what do you think of Apple? Top three influential products made by Apple are iPhone, iPad, iPod. Among them, iPod came first, then iPhone and then iPad. Though iPod is very popular at present, it had not received so much praise in the first few years. Now let’s have
a view at the ten year evolution of iPod.

In 2000, Tony Fadell brought his idea of a small hard drive-based MP3 player in 2000, which excited all Apple stuff. At that time, any information about iPod was totally confidential.

In 2001, Apple debut the first generation of iPod, a device sold for $499, which was equipped with maximum storage of 10GB and battery that can last for 10 hours. However, people not only had no confidence in it, but also laughed at its name. They joked that iPod was short for “I Perfer to Own Disc”.

In 2002, Apple debut the second generation of iPod, a device sold for $548 with a maximum storage of 20 GB and a function to synchronize with Windows PC.

In 2003, the third generation came. With 40GB storage and battery that can last for eight hours, it could also help you to control your player with click wheel. In May 28th, iTunes Music Store was available, which promoted the sale of iPod. This year, Apple has prolonged warranty time of iPod to two years.

In 2004, the fourth generation with 40GB storage and battery for 12 hours was sold for $399. This year, iPod became a mainstream brand in digital market. By cooperating with HP, Apple popularized its iTunes as it was installed in all HP computers. Also iPod mini was debut this year.

In 2005, first iPod in black was debut along with iPod Video, a device with 80GB storage and batter that can last for 14 to 20 hours. This year, the sale of iPod accounted for 75% of digital music player market and Apple quadrupled its profit.

In 2006, the second generation of iPod nano and iPod Shuffle were available in the market. This year, iPod waved goodbye to its white skin and welcomed its new cover.

In 2007, Apple debut iPod Classic and the third generation of iPod nano. Another great event was the debut of iPod Touch. With the design similar to iPhone, this 16GB version soon conquered the digital market.

In 2008, 120GB version of iPod Classic lowered its price to $249, followed by the fourth generation of iPod nano, which lowered its price to $199. The second generation of iPod touch was debut. In America, 90% new cars could connect iPod. The annual market share of iPod accessories reached $1.8 billion.

In 2009, Apple unveiled the fifth generation of iPod nano, the third generation of iPod shuffle and the third generation of iPod touch. However all those couldn’t change the fact that the sale of iPod was decreasing.

In 2010, Apple debut the sixth generation of iPod nano, the fourth generation of iPod shuffle and the fourth generation of iPod touch. In order to match with iPhone, the new iPod touch was equipped with Retina Display and A4 processor. Till September 2011, the total sale volume of iPod reached $257 million.

So even though iPod is so popular in the market, in order to keep its competiveness, Apple needs to refresh this series with the latest technological innovation. The Retina Display is a perfect tool to watch movie. However, iPod can just support mp4 format. So if you need to convert your videos to those specified format, you can try to convert flv to mp4 with Moyea FLV to Video Converter Pro or convert swf to mp4 with Moyea SWF to iPod Converter.