iPod

20 years ago someone predicted that the iPod would end up being irrelevant to the arrival of smartphones: it was Bill Gates

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When it comes to technological innovation, the real triumph It is not to get a supervent productbut be able to advance what will be the one that will be sold the most One and even two decades later. That talent is the one that has made many founders of large technology today are among the Greater fortunes in the world. In May 2005, with the iPod selling as churros and revolutionizing the way of listening to music, Bill Gates Auguró In an interview to a German medium that, a few years later, The iPod was going to be irrelevant. Although for those years, many interpreted His words like agoreras And the result of Microsoft’s inability to deal with the success of the iPod, Gates gave in the nail. The launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the arrival of the smartphones meant the First nail in your coffin. Bill Gates saw him come. Microsoft let him escape In your interview for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The technological millionaire refined his crystal ball from the technological sector. Two years before the launch of the first smartphone as we know it today, predict what the mobile Two decades later. “The mobile phones market is strategically fundamental. More and more functions will be integrated into a single device, and this requires software solutions. The perspective of having all relevant functions in a single device will be irresistible for consumers,” Gates said in 2005. With that statement, Microsoft’s founding millionaire gave in the nail with What was going to happen in the next decade with the development of the smartphones industry. However, in addition to seeing them coming, companies must be able to position in the right place for Take advantage of those predictions And that, with Steve Ballmer already in front of the company doubting success From the business model that the iPhone anticipated, it was the great pending subject for Microsoft. Despite the Windows Phone effortsthe huge mobile software market that Gates predicted was going to stay In Google’s hands and Apple with their respective operating systems, while Microsoft was relegated to a Minority market share with an operating system that did not convince. Ipod fall predicted, not the success of the iPhone “I do not believe that the success of the iPod can be sustained in the long term, however good Apple is. I think you can establish parallels with computers: here also Apple used to be extremely strong with its Macintosh and its graphical user interface (similar to the current iPod) and then lost their position. Consumers want more options and get them because there is a lot of innovation in this area,” Gates said in 2005. Again, he accounted for 100% in what consumers would require mobile devices in the next decade, and the iPod was going to fall short. However, again, and despite the adequate forecast of the millionaire, Microsoft He could not find his space neither Take advantage of your strengths. Instead, Apple not only responded to demands from your customers integrating the functions of the iPod into the iPhone for make it more versatilebut took advantage of the app store to Expand your functions opening a door to millions of applications. In this way, it was Apple who took advantage of the premise that, very rightly, had announced Bill Gates. In Xataka | Bill Gates’ first business was a failure: there he learned everything he needed to build the Microsoft empire Image | Flickr (World Bank Photo Collection), Xataka

The history of the iPod that saved it is a story of secrets and technical miracles

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“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 In Xataka | If Apple does not want to be left behind in the AI ​​race, you have a very obvious option at your fingertips: Buy Anthropic

We review the predecessors of the iPod in crossover

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Marty McFly appears on stage with an anti -the -active suit. The goal, terrorizing his father in the past. He puts some headphones, puts a Van Halen tape on his Walkman, and puts it at full volume. That mythical scene of ‘Return to the future‘I had that technological product as a singular cast actor, and what if it deserved it. And it is that the Walkman was defining a whole generation of users who had never been able to hear their music easily when they went down the street. To be able to hear the songs that you liked the most? That was miraculous. Sony revolutionized the world with Walkman, but that product was only the beginning of a paradigm shift in the world of music. Then the Discman would arrive, and with the massive adoption of MP3 we discovered that music in digital format offered even more comforts. There, the first MP3 players based on flash memories, Discman MP3 and something after the first MP3 players based on small hard drives. Until Apple raised its first disruption with the iPod, of course. That product did nothing especially different, but it did better and in a spectacular design. Then the smartphones and the iPhone would arrive, and the iPod became irrelevant. In that review we escaped other great products such as the Minidisc, but we did not want the list to become too long and we prefer to review the ones we consider more relevant. In any case everyone had their own magic, and In the fourth crossover episodein which Xataka collaborates with range caps, we do A review of all those devices. And by the way we order them from better to worse because we love to order things from better to worse, although you already know, each one has their own ranking and that is the fun of these of these Tier Lists of crossover. The episode, as always, It covers much more. The polarizing section ‘A Popular Opinion’ is released, there is an interview with an expert from the world of formula 1 and the formula-e, and to the review of the most important news of the week is added the cherry cherry: a look at the scrambled Lamborghini and Urus se. Enjoy Crossover! On YouTube | Crossover

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