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Media (Apple) Media

Birth of the iPod 346

Posted by CmdrTaco from the little-bit-of-history dept.
b00le writes "There's a little story over at Wired about the genesis of the iPod from the point of view of Ben Knauss, a former senior manager at PortalPlayer, the company Apple Computer approached to help develop its player. There's some nice gossip about The Steve's involvement in the project, the extreme secrecy and so on, but for me, the kicker comes at the end: 'Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success. "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.' "
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Birth of the iPod

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  • And the winner ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alranor ( 472986 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:15AM (#9759291)
    of the understatement of the year contest goes to:

    "It was probably a mistake,"
    • There was some gossip in the article, but not enough. I'm sure there was more to his leaving than just not thinking the product would be successful.

      It's excruciatingly unpleasant to work with Jobs; that's widely known.

      One [folklore.org] of endless examples:

      By Andy Hertzfeld, on how he was inducted into the original Macintosh team:

      ... [Jobs] walked over to my desk, found the power cord to my Apple II, and gave it a sharp tug, pulling it out of the socket, causing my machine to lose power and the code I was working on t

  • The Pete Best of the iPod (Score:5, Funny)

    by Silver Sloth ( 770927 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:18AM (#9759310)
    And now he's with M$

  • Tee Hee (Score:5, Interesting)

    by USAPatriot ( 730422 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:18AM (#9759312) Homepage
    ...because he had no confidence it would be a success. "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.' "

    No kidding, he's not alone.

    Here's what our very own illustrious CmdrTaco said at the time, " No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." [slashdot.org]

    • Re:Tee Hee (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ipods are still lame. 1GB minidiscs will kick their ass
      • mindisc WOULD kick ass if it wasn't crippled with DRM and compatible only with Sony's crappy windows software. The hardware is awesome, small, light, runs forever on one AA battery. But its severely limited. The software sucks ass. Sony is shooting themselves in the foot on this one.

    • I agree with Taco (Score:5, Funny)

      by tunabomber ( 259585 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @10:11AM (#9759804) Homepage
      I mean just think of what the iPod COULD have been. Along with the lack of wireless, I was also pissed that Apple left out the following features:

      -The ability to create a Beowulf cluster of multiple iPods. Just imagine- a render farm on the go!
      -AltiVec Velocity Engine
      -Videoconferencing
      -floppy drive
      -alpha-channel transparency (c'mon this is APPLE we're talking about here!)
      -"eject" button- in the current iPod, you would have to drag the disk to the trash in order to eject it!
      -The ability to interface with ANY Swedish vibrator.
      -Support for Ogg Vorbis AND Ogg Theora.
      -Drivers for Linux/BSD/Hurd.
      -Gyroscopically-controlled 3D pointing device.
      -The ability to modulate subliminal messages into the music that will make me stop being so damn fat.
      -Support for both the NX (no-execute) AND Evil bits.

      WTF? Is that too much to ask!

    • Ha-ha! Thanks for that link. It reminds me of how tech pundits have predicted failure for several recent (post-Jobs' return) Apple products and then failed to step up to eat their own words publicly.

      I remember a guy here in Austin who does the saturday morning computer radio show saying the iMac was doomed because it doesn't have a floppy disk drive. Back then it was a safe bet to predict failure for Apple's new products. Not anymore.

      I think the only predictions that went the other way on a recent A

      • The iMac disk drive thing was a big shock (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @01:05PM (#9761734)
        Everyone, everyone wrung hands over the original bondi iMacs not having disk drives. I had an old cartoon where someone dressed up as one for Halloween: "I have NO DISK DRIVE!!!" Ooh, scary.

        Partly the blind spot comes from critics being a)reactive and b)assigned to review individual products alone.

        With the iMac, Apple was aiming to put out a sweet little appliance home computer, with all those ease of UI advantages, designed for internet-able homes. The idea was that swapping files by floppy would be obsolete because they'd be too small for modern files and everyone would be networked to everyone else. (Look up. We live there.) Critics reacted by saying iMacs wouldn't fit the old model, in which computers were isolated islands (or island chains, in LANs) and you had to carry those life rafts from one slot to another.

        iPods were definitely an extension of the whole "digital hub" idea. They weren't bigger, badder mp3 players, because Apple wanted to sell them as a complete system built into the whole "hub" idea. Critics saw the price and compared them to other mp3 players. They didn't see how Apple was positioning the product.

        In both cases, Apple was thinking about -- cue usually bogus businesspeak -- new paradigms, and the critics were reviewing just the individual product, without appreciating how it'd fit the bigger picture.

  • Hindsight 20/20 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sebi ( 152185 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:18AM (#9759313)

    "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.

    I guess it would be easy to make fun of him now. Let us however not forget that one first reaction to the unveiling of the iPod read [slashdot.org] "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

  • The Entrepreneur's Dilemma (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TopShelf ( 92521 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:19AM (#9759327) Homepage Journal
    "It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.' "

    This is a dilemma all entrepreneurs (and software developers) face - if you wait until a product is absolutely perfected before taking it to market, you will likely lose your opportunity. At some point, you have to get it out there and gauge public opinion (which should help guide further development), lest you burn all your resources in R&D.
    • Like my director says: analysis paralysis.

      I think there's another thing going on, too: tech features vs. desirability. Jobs understands that it's not only a list of technical features that's important, but a more wholistic view of the product, which includes usability and "sex appeal".

      This is probably why most geeks at first thought the iPod was lame. Like a lot of Apple products (and products of other upscale manufacturers), the spec sheet doesn't do it justice; you have to use it for a bit.
      • the spec sheet doesn't do it justice; you have to use it for a bit

        Werd. I thought they were overpriced and of little use, but I went for one when I was offered a very good deal. After using it for a few days, I got it. It's an amazing device, and I wouldn't hesitate to get another, even at full retail.

        I feel silly saying it, but the iPod has changed my life for the better.
    • There's a fallacy embedded in the above: that a product is/can be perfect.

      It's a common mistake in the technical world. Perfect = no bugs.

      It's even more common in the intellectual worlds of academia and reportage. A perfect product is one you can't complain about, does everything you want, that's free. Heck, maybe it should perform fellatio and cunnilingus on demand.

      In the real world, there's no such thing as a perfect product. There are only iterations of a product as you tweak it to your customers. The
  • Apple has a design philosophy lacking in many un-user friendly electronics products. I do hope they succeed in the market, with items such as Apple TV's and DVD's and car stereos and such.

    • Re:Design Philosophy (Score:2, Informative)

      by valkr1e ( 565562 )
      there already was a mac TV, but even if they did come out with one again, it would be something like iTV, but would probably look very cool http://www.lowendmac.com/500/mactv.shtml

  • DOH! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Benzpyrene ( 788826 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:20AM (#9759333)
    Although he is kicking himself right now, you can't really blame the guy. Even the most successfull people in our society do things that they regret in hindsight. Warren Beatty, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, etc...

  • Whoops! (Score:5, Funny)

    by holzp ( 87423 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:21AM (#9759346)
    Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success.

    The article should be titled 'IClod'.

  • strange... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chuck Bucket ( 142633 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:22AM (#9759354) Homepage Journal
    It's strange that after so many years of making great computer hardware Apple's niche is almost redefined for them via a glorified walkman. No, that's not flamebait, but merely an oversimplification. Still, this is part of Steve's overall 'digital hub' theory, so the Macs still fit in, it just feels like they're getting a bit more out of focus compared to the extranious hardware.

    CB
  • Knauss reminds me of Tom Hanks, who was all but convinced that his movie Forrest Gump would be a complete flop

    . . . and now we have theme restaurants based on the movie.

    /perhaps I should open a bar called the iPod Lounge

  • It was interesting to note... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CrackedButter ( 646746 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:25AM (#9759372) Homepage Journal

    ...that IBM had an idea which incorporated bluetooth headphones, makes me wonder why Apple didn't do it, and that was in 2001! But don't get on at me for how it would effect the ipod's battery life, the ipod *could* be a little bigger to take a bigger battery and then we could all be happy.

    • Why (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      would you want Bluetooth headphones? So your music is compressed further to the point where it sounds like it's filtered through a waterfall? There are other kinds of wireless headphones out there that work better than Bluetooth. They aren't included with the iPod because they're expensive enough to cut into the profit margin.
    • They probably didn't have a chip or chipset that was cheap and low power enough for bluetooth to be integrated into the iPod and iPod headphones.

      The article didn't state what IBM's time frame to market was either.
    • But then you wouldn't have the distinctive white cord.... ;-)

    • Re:It was interesting to note... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MacGod ( 320762 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @11:13AM (#9760371)

      But don't get on at me for how it would effect the ipod's battery life, the ipod *could* be a little bigger to take a bigger battery and then we could all be happy.

      I think the battery life issue is exactly the problem. You assert that everyone would be happy with a bigger iPod, but I don't know what you base that on. I know the iPods diminutive stature was one of the biggest selling points for me. And I think that the phenomenal sales of the iPod mini (despite its seemingly lackluster price per gig value) shows that the size does matter (wang jokes aside).

      Furthermore, I like not having to charge my headphones.

      Also, let's not forget that the bluetooth transmitter and receiver would take up additional space in the iPod and headphones, respectively

      This would also be much more likely to lock me into Apple's headphones, rather than buying a generic, better-quality set of headphones I can connect via a standard jack

      Others have talked about the compression issue, I won't rehash it here.

      The biggest thing though is that the headphone connecter and earbuds probably cost all of $2 for Apple. A BlueTooth setup would be significantly more

      I know that there is a geek tendency to use cool tecnologies just because they're there, but I don't think this is a good application of BlueTooth. Someone on Slashdot said a few days ago that Slashdotters tend to overestimate the public's appetite for their pet technologies. I think this is very valid. I just don't think there would be a market for this, given the tradeoffs.

      However, I could be wrong. Market an iPod-BlueTooth headphones set as an accessory, and we'll see. There's certainly a market for iPod accessories out there, if you're right about the desire to own such a thing, you could rake in the big bucks. However, I think the continued absence of just such a peripheral indicates that there's no real demand.

    • that IBM had an idea which incorporated bluetooth headphones, makes me wonder why Apple didn't do it, and that was in 2001!

      Remember this is an Apple product. Apple's focus on their products is functionality first, features second. One of reasons the iPod is a success is that it is designed primarily to be a portable music player first. Not an all-in-one mp3/radio/bluetooth/etc player. Also with the short development time they probably wanted to remove all unneccessary features. Without the need to fo

  • Love this part on Jobs' influence (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:25AM (#9759378)
    Knauss said Jobs' influence was sometimes idiosyncratic. For example, the iPod is louder than most MP3 players because Jobs is partly deaf, he said. "They drove the sound up so he could hear it," Knauss said

    That's why the iPod goes to 11!

  • Honest Question (Score:4, Interesting)

    by NYTrojan ( 682560 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:30AM (#9759421)
    This is not meant to offend, I am really curious..

    Obviously the iPod is very popular, but for the life of me I don't see what makes it different from other mp3 players. For those of you who shelled out the big cash for this thing, what makes it so special? Why sets the iPod apart aside from slick marketing?

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:3, Informative)

      by hcdejong ( 561314 )
      A good (as opposed to 'merely tolerable') UI, both for the player itself and for its connection to a computer (FireWire, so copying songs won't take ages, iTunes as the UI on the computer end).
    • i think it's the interface. i've heard some die-hard iPod fans say that it's "the only mp3 player out there with a usable interface". personally, i'm not a big fan of it. i dislike the wheel - i like buttons. nice responsive buttons that i can press and i know when they're pressed. but then again, i'm a geek and a software developer, so my interface tastes don't necessarily match up with what's considered mainstream...

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:3, Informative)

      by Bigbutt ( 65939 )
      I received mine as a gift. I was interested in buying one but the price was the killer for me. Same with the PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz I recently bought. I needed a new laptop and wanted to play with the new system but the price was higher than I wanted to pay. Fortunately it costs me about $100.

      Having only used a couple of mp3 players, I think the thing I like most is that I don't have to have a CD wallet along with the device. Since most of my music is located on it (only the ones with 4 or 5 stars to keep it

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:5, Insightful)

      by UserChrisCanter4 ( 464072 ) * on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:43AM (#9759531)
      No offense taken.

      Size is important (gentlemen, start your double entendres); The iPod is physically small enough to put in your pants pocket comfortably. It doesn't sound like it's that much smaller than a Nomad Zen or Dell DJ or Archos Jukebox, but the in-person difference is astounding. Those other players would only fit in a pair of those ridiculously baggy jeans that hang below your ass.

      The UI on the player is great. Read some of the review about what it takes just to play a signle song on, for example, the DJ. Assorted menu navigation plus three or four clicks on the choose button, which is located, IIRC, obscurely on the side. Now, it can take a lot of menu navigaion to play a PARTICULAR song on the ipod, but one can start the music playing by basically mashing the center button until they hear it.

      iTunes: This is what brings it all together. It's what helps a lot of computer non-lits use the whole package quickly and easily. I wouldn't have a problem using a device that mounted and transferred as another drive, but a lot of people do. And iTunes treats the iPod as a synced device. Anything that has changed playlist or song-wise is instantly updated (over firewire, no less), making the whole process simple and easy.

      • Re:Honest Question (Score:4, Interesting)

        by nine-times ( 778537 ) <nine.times@gmail.com> on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @10:52AM (#9760162) Homepage

        You hit a lot of the big points, but I'd like to add something small that I find pretty nice: On a mac, you can use iSync to get your calandar and address book on to the iPod. It may not sound like much, but iSync can keep multiple Macs, your .Mac account (webmail address book), your iPod, your PDA, and if you have a phone that connects, your cell-phone, all up-to-date with the same info. OK, I only use it to keep my Mac, my web-mail, and my iPod with the same contact list, but it's nice to have...

        And I find the dock particularly useful... I have no stereo, just the dock plugged into some speakers.

        But in general, I'd wrap up everything you said and everything I've said into this: The thing is well thought out, well engineered, and well put together. Most of the MP3 players I've found have been just difficult enough in their setup, just crappy enough in their design, and just bulky enough to carry around (for the amount of space provided), that they seemed like more trouble than they're worth. I'm someone who likes to play with technology for the sake of playing with it, but I won't continue to use something on a daily basis until it's reached a certain level of maturity. PDAs, for example, I find to be more trouble than they're worth. Most MP3 players, I find to be "not quite there, yet" and more trouble than they're worth. The iPod was the first one who hit "ready for prime-time" status, in my mind.

      • Have you used a DJ? Its main navigation is a pushable scroll wheel, like on a mouse. To play a song, you only need to use that one thing. Or you can press the play button at most menu levels to just play everything below it. It's not as hideous as you make it out to be.

        The only buttons on the side are the volume and the record (which is similar to an old-fashion minitape recorder).
      • You missed one other point.

        Many people believe (and I know there are a vocal minority on slashdot that don't) that it looks good. That is, it looks good when you take it out of your pocket, it looks good to wear with a suit and it looks as if it really was worth the money you paid for it.

        In short, it doesn't look like some cheapo moulded black plastic toy that Fisher Price [fisher-price.com] produce for children.

        I know that a lot of slashdotters (and some people) are prepared to put up with something that is clunky, hea

      • The UI on the player is great. Read some of the review about what it takes just to play a signle song on, for example, the DJ. Assorted menu navigation plus three or four clicks on the choose button, which is located, IIRC, obscurely on the side. Now, it can take a lot of menu navigaion to play a PARTICULAR song on the ipod, but one can start the music playing by basically mashing the center button until they hear it.

        This is completely wrong. I mean, seriously, it's factually wrong!

        To play whatever's c

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Darth Maul ( 19860 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @10:05AM (#9759750)
      You just have to use one for a bit. The user interface is just great. Nothing gets in the way of the user just trying to play some tunes. I have a 15GB 3rd-gen and I use it every day. It's just amazing.

      Products from Apple generally have that quality that you really cannot comprehend until you use it and hold it. It's that sometimes nebulous concept of quality and design perfection. Sure, you can compare price, storage, battery life kind of quantitative measurements between the iPod and other players, but there's more to the iPod than just those numbers. That's why I cannot even respond to people here on Slashdot that go on about Nomad or Sony players with "better numbers".

      Sorry, but some of us care about design.

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @10:16AM (#9759855) Journal
      For me:

      1. Size. It is small enough that I can clip it to my belt and forget it's there (until I sit on it). It's also small enough to comfortably fit in trouser pockets when it's raining.
      2. UI. It is very easy to navigate to a particular song / album / genre / artist and tell it to play all of them. You can also play pre-selected playlists in a very small number of clicks.
      3. Integration. iTunes is a superb piece of software, and it makes managing large collections of music very easy. iTMS is also very nice, but wasn't available here (UK) when I bought my iPod. The iPod integrates very nicely with it - music and playlists are transferred in the background, and play counts and ratings are synchronised.
      4. FireWire. USB2 seriously loads the CPU, which is not something I want, especially when using my iPod as an external hard drive (I often use it as a backup device).
      5. The dock. The iPod dock has a line out port, and is connected to my stereo. When I get home, I drop my iPod in the dock and remove the headphones. When I do this, there is no interruption to my music (and it's charging while it's in the dock).
      6. AAC support. I prefer AAC the sound of AAC audio to any other lossy compression scheme (and I was using it with FAAD in WinAmp/XMMS before I became a Mac / iPod user)
      There are also a few other quite nice things, such as the fact that it stores a copy of my calendar and address book (although not a very up-to-date one, since I don't bother syncing it that often).

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:3, Informative)

      by evilned ( 146392 )
      I switched a few months ago from an iRiver Slim X350 to a 3rd gen iPod and have been pretty happy with the move. iTunes and the iPod do a wonderful job of keeping my collection organized, as opposed to the old way of having to organize it myself when I burn a mp3 cd. The UI is light years ahead of what I was using with the iRiver player, navigating 20 gigs of mp3s is easier than dealing with 700 megs on the iRiver. Sizewise its alot better as well. I did look at iRIver's hard drive players but I just di
    • When buying an MP3 player, there are a number of features you look at, and the relative importance for different people may vary, but the list is fairly standard.
      • Player size in centimeters, grams, and gigabytes.

      • The quality of the user Interface.
        The aesthetics of the exterior appearance.
        File transfer speed to your computer.
        The battery life.
        The durability.
        The price.

      For almost all of these attributes, the iPod is highly competive with other models. In the case of the user interface, volume/weig

    • I bought my iPod the first day it was available because it was the first MP3 player that had two crucial qualities:

      1) small and light enough to conveniently take anywhere.
      2) enough storage space to make it worth taking anywhere.

      Additional benefits are the UI that makes other player UIs look like they were designed by monkeys, firewire connector that let me upload a whole album in a couple seconds, itunes makes managing playlists and contents of the ipod trivial, and it doubles as a hard drive for car

    • For those of you who shelled out the big cash for this thing, what makes it so special? Why sets the iPod apart aside from slick marketing?

      I have a theory that most people have only used one type of mp3 player (e.g. just an iPod). They buy whatever looks best at the time, and if it breaks, they buy another.

      If I'm right, most of the commentary on the relative merits of various mp3 players is really worthless. The commentary tends to be the same every time: "whatever I bought is cool, and other stuff suc

  • Sucess in marketing. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by H8X55 ( 650339 ) <jason DOT r DOT thomas AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:33AM (#9759447) Homepage Journal
    A lot of techs i know have blown off the iPod and are currently using another device to provide portable storage and audio playback. The iRivers are incredibly popular amoung 'i.t. people'. I know a lot of folks rave on about Creative's products as well. I personally like the Neuros [neurosaudio.com].

    From a tech standpoint the iPod lacks some functionality, or has too high a price point for many of us. But from marketing, fashion, and the MTV crowd it is the "it" thing to own. No one can predict these things though. "It" just happens. Like a $45 trucker hat.
    • The thing is people point to bulkier, clumsier looking products and use the price of that to say the iPod is "overpriced" or something. The problem with that is the compact design comes at a price, and of course, a good package design comes at a price too. Zen looks pretty nice but it is pretty boxy and bulkier too. I've seen an iRiver that is very close to an iPod's size but has an awful large protruding arrow pointer and costs just as much as iPod.

      The MuVo2 does look like a decent competitor to iPod m

  • Sure he left before launch, but he went to M$.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Shoeler ( 180797 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:33AM (#9759450)
    This reminds me of when the cheif designer for Banyan-Vine's streettalk went to Microsoft - viola, Active Directory, which very closely resembes Streettalk!

    Same-old microsoft play. Take the idea someone else creates and call it innovation when you include it in the OS that 95% of PCs use.

  • Deaf Guy Wanted For Music Listening (Score:5, Insightful)

    by grunt107 ( 739510 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:34AM (#9759457)
    Although Jobs' influence seems to have helped the iPod become the force it is, I find it odd that he would be so influential on the sonic quality - being that he is partially deaf. I am partially fat (oh, who am I kidding - "totally fat"), so I should not be a contact for bicycle seat design.

    • why not? You'd be one of the first to notice that the seat's too hard and hurts your rear, or that it's not shaped properly and is uncomfortable... something that skinnier types would only discover after pedaling 20 miles away from home.

    • so I should not be a contact for bicycle seat design.


      Actually,

      that's why they call them 'sattles' not seats....

      Just have a look at some of the bike photos from this years tour.

      I have seen some Time Trial set ups where the saddle is nothing more but a thin "slice" of carbon fibre.
    • I find it odd that he would be so influential on the sonic quality

      Actually, that's exactly why he should be influential. The "perfect customer" doesn't exist; what you need is someone who can point out where your product needs improvement.

  • Understandable (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cubicledrone ( 681598 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:35AM (#9759461)
    Business is relentlessly cynical. I would guess that the iPod was constantly ridiculed during development, and that there were numerous attempts (all driven by office politics, no doubt) to cancel the project.

    Nothing will work. Nothing will make money. Nobody wants to buy it. Nobody cares. Everything sucks. It's so hard to make money (announced in a $3 million conference room) It'll never work. What makes you think people will buy it? What makes you think you're qualified to work here? Blah blah blah.

    It's so predictable any more it's almost comedy. It is truly amazing that anything new is developed at all. Try taking a new product to a bank for a loan to manufacture it. I can hear the whining already. Every single word is predictable. After a while it becomes truly redundant and very difficult to listen to.

    Oh, what wonders have been lost to society for office politics and lack of capital.

    • Its "The Innovator's Dilemma" (Score:4, Interesting)

      by crovira ( 10242 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:59AM (#9759682) Homepage
      As an organization get larger, (enough to afford a $3 million conference room) the costs of promoting any ideology or technology get larger until they become insurmountable.

      That's when some fool with more brains that money eats the lunch of some bigger fool with more money than brains.

      Innovations come from without, not from within.
    • Yeah... let me throw in that it's a businesses' natural tendency to play it safe -- and that if you played by the conservative estimates, I'm sure the Apple's internal figures would have the word "failure" printed all over it.

      Relate this to the video game industry, which relies on creativity to spark sales (with caveats... Pikmin didn't exactly take off, while Pokemon did), and it's easy to see why gamers in general tend to shake their heads over the game industry's blight.

    • >I would guess that the iPod was constantly ridiculed during development, and that there were numerous attempts (all driven by office politics, no doubt)

      Read the problems with the iPod during development. For two months, with production lines ready, they had a 3 hour (off or on) mp3 player. That is a technical problem that you would be an idiot to ignore.

      >Nothing will work.

      Seriously, you need to look at what is happening in the world. There are lots of thing businesses are doing which are creati

  • Not just the iPod... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ugauaauag ( 764969 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:36AM (#9759467)
    This guy also had the iTunes Music Store thought up as well.

    "Tony's idea was to take an MP3 player, build a Napster music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it," Knauss said.

  • So much for the adage 'slow and steady wins the race.' I wonder how much money this guy lost in bonuses and stock options by giving up early.

    I found this particularly interesting:

    Knauss said at one of the first meetings with PortalPlayer, Fadell said, "This is the project that's going to remold Apple and 10 years from now, it's going to be a music business, not a computer business."

  • Slashdot Reader (Score:4, Funny)

    by awhelan ( 781773 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @09:58AM (#9759675) Homepage
    Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success.

    He must have read all the slashdot comments saying it would fail.
    Yet another way slashdot can ruin your career.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @10:17AM (#9759861)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well there was an interview with Steve Jobs, not that long after the iTunes Music Store debut. In the interview, he had spoken to the Big 5 music companies and was telling them why DRM wouldn't work, and why their (Apple's idea) would. And that they sent him away. Then while product after product with DRM kept failing, Jobs and company kept coming back, attempting to educate the Big 5 companies. Finally, once the Big 5 had enough failure under their belts, and Jobs came back with FairPlay (basically DRM lig

  • "Tony's idea was to take an MP3 player, build a Napster music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it," Knauss said. "Tony had the business idea."

    Hmm, sounds familiar [wikipedia.org] - someone comes up with an idea, and before it's fully implemented, it lands int the hands of Steve Jobs, who does a fantastic job of launching it and selling it to the masses and Apple ends up smelling like roses, forever changing the industry.

  • From the article:

    Knauss said at one of the first meetings with PortalPlayer, Fadell said, "This is the project that's going to remold Apple and 10 years from now, it's going to be a music business, not a computer business."

    I wonder if Apple will suddenly stop making the Mac one day if the marketshare continues to dwindle? I'm a huge OS X fan, I'm typing this from my iBook, so it's no troll. As someone who was screwed when they dropped continuation (or any support whatsoever) for the Apple II line, I ha

  • At least, for the iPod, nobody died! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by callipygian-showsyst ( 631222 ) on Wednesday July 21, 2004 @11:39AM (#9760773) Homepage
    During the Apple Newton development, one programmer was so stressed, that he shot himself!
  • I'm still unclear as to the nature of the Apple music format.

    I know that it's better than MP3 - so are WMA and OGG. And I'm not really interested in comparisons between these next gen codecs: they are all good enough for me.

    I just want to know if it's proprietary. Some people tell me it is an open codec called AAC. So will my CD-ripper software (CD-ex) and other music utilities be able to include the codec so it can rip and encode to this format (without breaking the law)? Can other brands of MP3 play
    • AAC is part of the MP4 standard. It has the same kind of restrictions MP3 has (not much, see http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/faq/mp4-aud/mp4- a ud.htm for details). Basically, yes. However, iTunes Music Store sells protected AAC. Protected AAC can include a proprietary DRM layer, and on iTMS, Apple uses FairPlay. If you buy protected iTMS files, you would have to burn to CD and reencode (lossily) the result to get another format, and the result would be much poorer in quality than the source protected AAC

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