---
created_at: '2016-10-24T21:22:19.000Z'
title: Apple Introduces What It Calls an Easier to Use Portable Music Player (2001)
url: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/24/business/technology-apple-introduces-what-it-calls-an-easier-to-use-portable-music-player.html
author: daschaefer
points: 305
story_text: 
comment_text: 
num_comments: 234
story_id: 
story_title: 
story_url: 
parent_id: 
created_at_i: 1477344139
_tags:
- story
- author_daschaefer
- story_12783040
objectID: '12783040'
year: 2001

---
Apple Computer introduced a portable music player today and declared
that the new gadget, called the iPod, was so much easier to use that it
would broaden a nascent market in the way the Macintosh once helped make
the personal computer accessible to a more general audience.

But while industry analysts said the device appeared to be as consumer
friendly as the company said it was, they also pointed to its relatively
limited potential audience, around seven million owners of the latest
Macintosh computers. Apple said it had not yet decided whether to
introduce a version of the music player for computers with the Windows
operating system, which is used by more than 90 percent of personal
computer users.

''It's a nice feature for Macintosh users,'' said P. J. McNealy, a
senior analyst for Gartner G2, an e-commerce research group. ''But to
the rest of the Windows world, it doesn't make any difference.''

Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, disputed the concern that the
market was limited, and said the company might have trouble meeting
holiday demand. He predicted that the improvement in technology he said
the iPod represented would inspire consumers to buy Macintosh computers
so they could use an iPod.

Advertisement

[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-1)

There are several categories of digital music devices, including players
that use flash memory, which are small but expensive. Another competing
player relies on magnetic hard drives, which are typically larger in
both capacity and size, and thus are enclosed in larger gadgets. The
market for all such devices is growing and is expected to be around 18
million units by 2005, according to IDC, a market research firm.

[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-2)