The device that saved Apple and made the company what it is today is now officially part of the company’s past

One of the most memorable advertising campaigns that I can remember for a tech product came back in the mid-2000s. It was a commercial filled with colors and silhouettes of people dancing to music that was coming from their white headphones. The message was so simple but drove home the point that this device was the best way to enjoy your music. This was of course an advertisement for Apple’s fabled MP3 player: the iPod. A week ago, Apple released a statement officially killing off the product. This was not a surprise as the relevance and existence of the iPod had come to feel redundant as more people adopted smartphones. But the iPod was the device that saved Apple. There is no iPhone without the success of the iPod. It changed so much about the tech industry in how we consume content, how we approach music and bringing music back into the collective culture.

The Device That Saved Apple

When you consider Steve Jobs returning to Apple to save the company, there are often two products that come to mind. The first is the colorful and iconic iMac, and the second is the iPod. Where the iMac saved Apple the computer company, the iPod took the company to new heights. It was a game-changer of a device. In the late 1990s, MP3 players were starting to pop up everywhere but they were clunky and ran unintuitive software.

Then the first iPod came with a new method of navigation on the front of the device which ultimately became the iconic click wheel. The iPod felt like a different sort of device, one that was thoughtfully designed with the user in mind. The device became an instant hit alongside the iTunes Music Store that quickly became the standard for purchasing music in the age of Napster and pirated music apps. For many, this marriage of device and storefront ultimately saved the music industry as many started to pivot away from physical media.

More than anything, the iPod gave Apple an identity again and set the company up to be looked at as a leader in the digital music industry. That legacy is still alive and well today as Apple Music continues to grow in popularity and the company focuses on listening experiences such as Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. And more importantly, the iPod set up Apple as a tastemaker in the tech world. Every company that made MP3 players was trying to catch up with what Apple was doing with the iPod. It had become the default option for most people when they listen to music, much as the iPhone has taken that mantle in smartphones (at least in the United States).

The iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch that we know today does not exist without the success of the iPod. That product also helped to lead to the launch of Apple’s headphone business with the AirPods line of devices. For better or worse (depending on who you ask), all these changes in the consumer tech space have been set into motion by the success of the iPod.

Cultural Significance

Making a tech company cool and culturally relevant is incredibly tough to do. Microsoft has struggled with it since Windows 95 was released, and today we see Samsung struggling to navigate the waters of public opinion. This is because much of the products that tech companies sell are ultimately a bit boring. Apple figured out that spewing out specifications and performance gains was not going to sell products, but emotional feelings of happiness and joy will. This strategy was never as evident as it was with the iPod. The only spec that Apple ever mentioned with the music player was the storage because that was the only one that mattered.

Listening to music is such a personal and emotional experience and Apple tapped into that to make the iPod cool and feel accessible. The first iPod had the tagline of “1,000 songs in your pocket” which told the entire story of the appeal of the device. From there Apple would incorporate music into commercials advertising the product, which is a tactic they still use today to sell iPhones and Macs.

This strategy laid the groundwork for how it positioned its future products. Apple as a result of the success of the iPod and the way that it was marketed, sells iPhones and other products on the strength of the experience as opposed to the raw hardware capability. Consider the way that Apple talks up the camera experience on the iPhone. They will simply paint a picture that with this phone camera you can feel like a professional photographer. Other companies would boast about special camera features or the resolution of photos and videos. And that is where Apple wins while everyone else loses. They have sold an idea as opposed to a feature. And people fall in love with the idea much more quickly than they do with a feature or spec.

All of this started with the iPod. Maybe a product from Creative Zen had more features. Or perhaps the Zune offered better hardware. In the end, the iPod brought out an emotional response from people. And that is why they defined the category and why Apple continues to use this strategy to define every category it enters. But as with all things, a good thing always comes to an end.

The Inevitable Fall

I owned a few different models of iPods through the years: iPod Classic, iPod Nano, and iPod Touch. Everyone has their favorite, one that went through significant life experiences with them. For me, it was my 4th generation iPod Nano. This was the device that I listened to music in the first car that I bought for myself. It was the soundtrack to the first time I visited Chicago. It is a device that immediately invokes memories whenever I think about it. But like all tech, eventually, it all came to an end.

Technology is always moving, adapting, and evolving. There will always be the “next big thing” on the horizon. The iPod was a moneymaker for Apple for many years, but as soon as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone and branded it as three devices in one (one of those devices being an iPod), the fate of the line was sealed. Ultimately, the iPhone was destined to cannibalize the iPod because the iPhone had an iPod built into it by design.

As time went on, the two devices were being manufactured and existed simultaneously. But as technology changed, so did the way that we listen to music. Streaming became the default option for many people. With the rise of services like Spotify, Pandora, and Google Play Music the need for locally stored music started to evaporate for many people. The iTunes Store felt outdated and paying a subscription that people had become accustomed to (through other services like Netflix) seemed like a more viable option. The smartphone was quickly becoming most people’s primary computing device, which meant that using software like iTunes to load music on an MP3 player seemed a bit counterproductive.

But the iPod is simply bigger than the planned obsolescence of the tech industry. This was a device that defined a culture much in the way that CDs and vinyl defined previous generations. It is the device that helped to create the Apple that we know today. The entire Apple ecosystem might not exist if it was not for the success of the iPod. Its soul is still present today in Apple Music, but nothing will ever match the satisfaction of the click wheel. Farewell to an icon of consumer tech.