“Today it is almost impossible to imagine it, but there was a time when Apple was about to disappear”Thus, our new episode of ‘Xataka presents’ starts, with a direct squeak to the history of one of the most admired companies on the planet. And it is not just a good beginning: it is a reality that many people have forgotten. In this series we have already explored other curious stories of technology, Like Bonzi Buddythat purple virtual assistant who promised to help and ended up becoming a digital nightmare.
When we think today in Apple, we think of leadership, in innovation, an ecosystem that many try to imitate. But there was a time when all that seemed a mirage. Apple was against the strings. And if he managed to survive, it was thanks to a series of decisions that, seen in retrospect, seem almost miraculous.
What decisions were those? What product was so important that the company’s trajectory changed completely? And above all, how was it possible that A seemingly simple device (A music player) will end up being the turning point of an entire era?
If you are passionate about technology as well as us, this video is a mandatory trip. Because we don’t talk only about iPod. We talked about vision, of risk, of moments when everything could go wrong. How a company without experience in pocket products, without know-how In lithium batteries or portable software, he threw himself to the unknown … and won.
“The iPod was that product and it was a success,” says our partner Jota García in the video. But getting there was anything but easy.
After the purchase of NextSteve Jobs had returned to Apple with a clear mission. The IMAC had already been a first blow on the table, but it was not enough. Napster stirred the foundations of the music industry. The CDs began to lose ground. The world asked for another way of consuming music. Jobs, as always, didn’t want to settle. “He didn’t want to make another partner of the pile. He wanted to do the best. The most elegant, the fastest, the simplest.”
Hence an unusual piece: “A 1.8 -inch Toshiba hard drive, compact, light and with 5 GB of capacity.” And from there a phrase was born that would end up defining a whole generation: a thousand songs in your pocket.
And did you know that the name “iPod” was not even Apple’s idea? Or that the project was almost secret and was about to be canceled more than once? In the video we break up step by step how Apple went from the “P-68” to the device that would change everything.
“They had no experience by manufacturing pocket products. They did not handle lithium batteries, they did not have software for portable devices … ”. The Apple at that time was not the Apple now. It was a vulnerable company. And yet it was launched with everything.
The rest is history … but a story with many nuances. Because when Jobs presented the iPod, not everything was ovation. “The day Apple presented the iPod … almost nobody cared.” It cost $ 399, it worked only with Mac, and many media criticized him openly. And yet, there was the magic: Apple’s story was beginning to rewrite, although few knew it yet.
In the video we relive that moment, and also how, step by step, Apple broke his own rules to change his destiny. In addition, we navigate the history of the iPod until its disappearance and his legacy on the iPhone. But that story not only serves to understand the past, it also helps us to contrast two very different times.
That Apple that improvised to survive Today is one of the most valuable companies in the worldbut still making strategic decisions not to be left behind. In full career for artificial intelligence, he has presented Apple Intelligence and has announced the integration of Chatgpt In their operating systems. All that, as then, with one goal: to continue in the race when the direction of technology changes again.
Did you have an iPod? Do you remember the song you listened to most? Leave it in the comments. And give the play. Because if you ever thought that everything had already been told about Apple … You haven’t seen this video yet.
Images | Xataka
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