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What DID Apple innovate? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

341 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Genuine question.

I know they were the scrappy startup doing different cool things. But, what are the most major innovative things that they introduced, improved or just implemented that either revolutionized, improved or spurred change?

I am aware of the possibility of both fanboys and haters just duking it out below. But there's always that one guy who has a fkn well-formatted paragraph of gold. I await that guy.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

iPod. It was the first commercially available MP3 player that sported more than 512mb of storage. First model was 5GB. Second was 10GB.

I got in on the second model, as a Windows PC user. I had to buy a FireWire expansion card just to use it.

Literally nothing else was like it, and at the time, you could leave it on the seat of your car while you went shopping because that far back, nobody knew what the fuck it was and so would leave it alone.

They didn't create the first MP3 player, but they created the first massively commercially successful one.

Through this, they also pioneered the first digital storefront for music which in itself was a fucking feat considering there is already a music company named Apple. They threaded the fucking needle with that one. They had trademark disputes with Apple Corps (holding company for music by The Beatles) going back to the 1970's but put that all to bed with the release of the iTunes store.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

They didn’t create the first MP3 player, but they created the first massively commercially successful one.

Going back to what others have mentioned about Apple, the iPod's success was a big part because of the intuitive interface. If it's easy to learn and use, it will become popular.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The iPod was released in 2001. Back then it was mac only. Creative offered MP3 players with more storage earlier.

The real innovation was pairing it with itunes, allowing you to be able to organise your music collection, convert cds, etc. That and the itunes store a few years later.

The form factor was different though. Large storage, truly portable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I mostly agree, but I'd just put the itunes pairing as one of the top 5 innovations (maybe #4), not the main one.

And ah yeah, the Itunes store. The Store, and Job's personal (and surprisingly effective) crusade to bring sanity to the way (and prices) that music were being sold was huge huge.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I remember reading about it when it came out. Apparently other companies had discarded the idea of using a spinning drive in an MP3 player because it might only last 3 to 5 years, which was abysmally short at the time.

Apple managed to predict (and maybe help promote?) the short market span of consumer electronics. Most companies were still designing with a 20-year lifespan in mind.