The 20th anniversary of the iPod just passed and almost no one noticed

The device that both revolutionized music consumption and propelled poor also-ran Apple towards being a trillion-dollar company had a big birthday. And almost no one noticed.

In the summer of 2001, a screenwriter friend got a call from his agent. “You and your writing partner get on a plane to San Francisco. You’re scheduled for a meeting at One Infinite Loop.” Apple headquarters? What could Apple want with a couple of writers whose specialty was children’s programming?

After a short wait in the lobby, a familiar figure in a black turtleneck and jeans came up to them. “Come with me,” he ordered. Steve Jobs then ushered the two into a conference room whereupon he went into full presentation mode. “This,” he said, “is going to revolutionize everything about music.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pre-production model of the very first iPod.

Jobs told my friend and his partner that he wanted them to come up with a promotional video featuring some hand-picked world-renown artists. It would be the world’s introduction to the new device. And for the next several weeks, my friend worked on the project, often getting calls from Jobs at all times of the day and night with notes.

In the end, production and marketing schedules conspired to sink the project and the promotional video was never made. Apple was on a super-accelerated development timeline (serious work really began on the iPod in May 2001 and Apple wanted it out before Christmas). Still, my friend had a front-row seat to the launch of one of the most important pieces of consumer electronics in the history of the universe.

The first generation iPod appeared on Oct. 23, 2001, and would eventually sell somewhere near 400 million units. It not only turn Apple’s fortunes around for good but set it on the road to becoming a company worth more than US$2.5 trillion. Yet how many stories have you seen in the last couple of weeks about this important anniversary? Not a lot. The iPod, as important as it was, has been eclipsed (or more correctly, cannibalized) by the iPhone.

The world was still in the lingering fog of the 9/11 attacks when the press was called to a low-key event at Apple HQ. After speaking of Apple’s “digital hub” strategy — an idea that one’s digital lifestyle would centre around a Macintosh computer — he rhapsodized about a new product that connected a person with music in a new way.

“We love music, and it’s always good to do something you love,” said Jobs at the hour-long presentation.

“Music’s a part of everyone’s life — everyone. Music’s been around forever. It will always be around. This is not a speculative market. And because it’s a part of everyone’s life, it’s a very large target market, all around the world. It knows no boundaries. But interestingly enough, in this whole new digital music revolution, there is no market leader.”