Article updated on January 24, 2021 by Byothe
A little moment of history with a flashback to the beginning of the 2000st century (the XNUMXs, in other words...) on very critical reactions to MacRumors Forum about a new Apple device: the iPod.
Recall of facts…
In October 2001, Steve Jobs announced to the world the creation of a new "revolutionary digital device": the iPod which allows you to put "1000 songs in your pocket".
While the object is indeed very interesting, it is not the first MP3 player to hit the market. In fact, Apple was overtaken in this by Creative and its NOMAD Jukebox or Archos…
Nearly 15 years later, it is clear that it was the iPod that put Apple back on track by opening the way for the company to "iProducts" of which the iPhone was the main beneficiary.
But yet, during this announcement by Steve Jobs, "visionaries" on the MacRumors forum (and certainly on many other forums) had a very scathing criticism of the iPod. Here is a selection of comments that the future contradicted.
NO !
Super just what the world needed, another creepy MP3 player. Come on Steve! Where's the Newton?!
This seems really revolutionary to me 🙁
Hey – here's an idea Apple – rather than going into the gadget and toy market, why don't you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crappy server lines?
Or are you really looking to become a consumer-glorified gadget company?
This is not revolutionary!
I still can't believe it! All this hype over something so ridiculous! Who gives a damn about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently!
Why, but why did they do that? This is so off the mark! So stupid!
This is ***** impossible
All this hype over an MP3 player? An innovative digital device? The reality distortion field begins to warp Steve's brain if he believes, even for a second, that this thing is going to take off.
The funny thing is that we still find the same kind of reactions today after each new announcement from Apple... Like here with the guy who talks about Apple's stock price and who hallucinates about the margin that the company must make on the iPod:
APPLE stock is falling fast!
Mmmmm. AAPL already down $1.00…
It seems that the markets are not very positive about Apple's foray into the digital device market. Sure the iPod is cool, great, so what. You wouldn't expect anything less from Apple. But I agree with a lot of people on this forum. $400 is way too much in the current economic climate. Another thing. I'd like to know what margin they're making on the iPod...
And then there's the one who tries to bring everyone back to reality (but is probably a little disappointed nonetheless)... but, in the end, he wasn't really wrong:
You are just a bunch of "crazy female dogs" (literal translation ;))
We live in 2001… Not 6000 years from now when ridiculously cool technology will exist. No other MP3 player has a hard drive like that… 5 gigs… **** yeah. A Rio the same size has 64 megs. God, stop moping… this is revolutionary… and this is just the beginning. This device literally crushes everything on the market by 100x.
Conclusion
Even if Apple was not a real pioneer in the MP3 player, being overtaken by Creative and Archos, it was nevertheless the Cupertino company that allowed the popularization of this concept of MP3 player, relegating mini-disc players and other CD players to the back burner...
