A super-large and crappy switch that reveals a valuable prototype made just before the release of the first iPod



Apple's portable music player, the

iPod , was launched in 2001, the year after Steve Jobs became CEO, and became a worldwide blockbuster, triggering Apple's breakthrough. A valuable prototype made just before the release of such an iPod was released for the first time by Panic, a company that develops applications for macOS and iOS.

Panic Blog »A Prototype Original iPod
https://panic.com/blog/a-prototype-original-ipod/

This is the first iPod released in 2001. The capacity was 5GB and it was compatible only with Mac, but it was a big hit with the concept of 'carrying 1000 songs in your pocket'. After that, successor products were released one after another.


by

Jorge Quinteros

The original iPod has already become an extremely rare item, and when it was put up for sale on eBay on the Internet auction, it was priced at over 2 million yen.

Extremely rare 'first iPod' will be exhibited on eBay and can be purchased --GIGAZINE



On October 23, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first iPod, Panic released a photo of the 'first iPod prototype' that he had obtained from somewhere and kept in his closet. Below is a photo of the prototype, a huge yellow box with exposed connection terminals, a large wheel switch, a small display, 'UP (top)' 'DOWN (bottom)' 'LEFT (left)' 'RIGHT (right)' Four buttons are arranged. It doesn't look like an iPod that was actually released, and it looks like it would be absolutely unacceptable to Jobs' aesthetic sense.



Compared to the actual original iPod, it looks like this. The size of the display looks almost the same, but the prototype is several times larger than the real thing.



Looking inside the prototype, surprisingly, the contents are almost hollow, and the volume actually occupied by the display, board, etc. is small. The fact that he dared to make a prototype with a completely different size and appearance had the meaning of hiding the appearance of the final device from the engineer.



The label affixed to the part has '2001.9.3' printed on it, suggesting that this prototype was made just before its launch in October 2001.



Protruding from the top of the prototype is

JTAG, which is used for circuit and board inspection and debugging.



In addition, Tony Fadell, who is the central figure in iPod development and is also called 'the creator of iPod', admits that the prototype released by Panic is genuine. According to Fadell, this prototype is called the 'P68 / Dulcimer' and was made before the actual form factor design was ready. Fadell said the wheels worked, albeit inadequately, although the exterior was kept away from the finished iPod for confidentiality and the interior was mostly hollow.



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