

The man who really invented the iPod

23. october 2011

Ten years ago today, Apple introduced the first iPod, marking an incredible comeback for the the company that was still stuggling after massive problems during the late 1990s then. With the iPod, Apple entered the consumer market and started a real revolution that changed the entire music industry.


340 million iPods have been sold since then, and even if the success of the portable music player is declining its technology is still around everywhere, especially in the highly popular Apple iPhone.


The idea to create the initial iPod goes back to hardware engineer Tony Fadell, who also brought up the idea to ship an MP3 player along with a music distribution service that should become iTunes. Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey were responsible for the hardware while Jonathan Ivecreated the unique design (Ive is also responsible for most other Apple product designs). The iPod used an ARM processor and an operating system created by Pixo.

But did Apple and Tony Fadell really invent iPod and iTunes? Well, there was a man who already described and patented a digital music player and a digital music service via telephone line back in 1979!

Kane Kramer, a British inventor and business man, invented and designed this unique player called the "IXI" during the late 1970s, and the device even looks a bit like the original iPod from 2001. The device featured both an LCD screen and the iPod-typical control features, although you can't really compare it with a clickwheel. Kramer even thought of downloading software updates thought the phone line.

Today, Kane Kramer is still active in the technology sector, you can visit his page at www.kanekramer.com.