iPod: A Genesis - Day 5

by Doina Stefanescu  |  June 5, 2008

Day 5: iPod flora & fauna

After Apple released the second generation nano, the iPod world started to get a bunch of new and improved family members. At that time, the company introduced the second generation iPod shuffle that, like the new nano, was encased in aluminum. Like the original shuffle, it was screenless, but unlike any previous iPod it had a built-in clip.

Being so small, it barely had room enough for a click wheel. The 1GB aluminum shuffle version was available in colors like blue, green, orange, pink and silver. Because it was so small, it did not have room for a dock connector or just a mini USB port. Cunning enough, Apple devised a way to connect the new shuffle to USB through the headphone jack by using a special cable.

The iPhone came with Steve Job's announcement during the Macworld Expo in January 2007. The device had no comparison between any other smartphone that preceded it. It run on OS X and unlike other previous iPods, it had no scroll wheel at all. It also did not have any buttons like traditional cell phones. Instead, the Apple iPhone has only one button, everything else a user wanted to do on it was made through a 3.5" 480 x 320 touchscreen.

Basic iPhone features were that it run a custom version of OS X and that it supported both AT&T's wireless technology and 802.11n WiFi. It also synced with any Mac's address book, included Apple Safari browser, did all the things a video iPod could do and, moreover, introduced innovations regarding a soft keyboard and the ability to automatically rotate screen content based on the iPhone's orientation.

All these features did not come in cheap, although. With a 4GB flash memory, the entry level iPhone cost about 499 US $, with no rebates from At&T Wireless. The 8G version sold for US$599.

In spite of the high price, when it was released on Friday, June 29, it was available only in the US and Apple Stores and AT&T Wireless company stores had exclusiveness. Apple reported sales of 270,000 units in the first shipment and AT&T noted that 147,000 were activated that first weekend.

The digits begun to sky rocket. iSuppli calculated that the iPhone accounted for 1.8% of US mobile phone sales in July 2007, nearly double Apple's 1% goal. AT&T reported iPhone as the best selling model it ever had, and Apple projected sales of 730,000 units in the July – September period, which meant 1 million iPhones.

Next articles in this series:

1. Day 1: Let there be iPod
2. Day 2: Separating iPod from others
3. Day 3: The iPod world received colors
4. Day 4: The iPod stars
5. Day 5: iPod flora & fauna
6. Day 6: "Let us make iPod in our image...", Apple said
7. Day 7: And Apple rested..., or not?

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