Who Invented the iPod - Part 2

Who Invented the iPod

When a product becomes as popular and widespread worldwide as the iPod, people begin to ask the question “who invented the iPod?”

And though anyone who guessed “a bunch of folks at Apple” is basically right, the answer to the question is a little more complex and interesting.

Who Invented the iPod at Apple

The iPod was far from the first portable MP3 player. The devices had been on the market for years before the iPod debuted in October 2001, so Apple didn’t invent the concept. But none of the devices prior to the iPod had been big hits and the iPod was the first product to really make the music loading and listening process elegant and enjoyable.

The iPod team at Apple took about a year to design and launch the first iPod in 2001. That team consisted of:

• Jon Rubinstein, then the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering; now at Palm
  
• Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple
  
• Tony Fadell, an engineer and former senior vice president of the iPod division
  
• Michael Dhuey, an engineer; now at Cisco Systems
  
• Steve Jobs, the company’s CEO, who oversaw the project

The Name

Did you know that the person who gave the iPod its name wasn’t even an Apple employee? Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, suggested the name iPod because he was inspired by the line in the movie 2001 "Open the pod bay door, HAL."

Who Invented the iPod at Other Companies

Apple has a reputation for building its hardware and software entirely in-house and not partnering with outside companies. That didn’t hold true for the development of the iPod.

The iPod was based on a reference design by a company called PortalPlayer (no part of NVIDIA), who had created a prototype device using an embedded operating system.

Also in an uncharacteristic move for a company widely known and respected for its user interfaces, Apple didn’t design the first iPod interface, contracting with a company called Pixo (now part of Sun Microsystems) for that work.

But Who Really Invented the iPod?

As I noted above, Apple was far from the first company to bring a portable digital music player to the market. But would you believe that iPod was essentially invented in England in 1979? It’s true.

Kane Kramer, a British inventor, developed and patent the idea of a portable, plastic digital music player in 1979. He was unable to afford to renew the worldwide patent on his idea, though, and because the patent expired, he was unable to make any money from his original idea.

Apple has even acknowledged Kramer’s role in inventing the iPod as part of its defense against a patent lawsuit in 2008.

Who Invented the iPod