Almost immediately after the founding of the company Apple Computer faced her first lawsuit - and in 1978 she was "run over" by the English multimedia corporation Apple Corps. The basis was the name and logo of the new computer company. The British defended their rights to the image of an apple in the logo. In their opinion, the face had all the signs of a trademark infringement.
Litigation dragged on for several years. In 1981, the parties parted amicably. According to the signed agreement, Apple Computer could not change its name and logo, provided that it would never be active under them in the music market. In those years when the computer industry was in its infancy, there was simply no way to violate such an agreement. However, lawsuits followed in the late 80s and early 90s, when Apple Computer began experiments with the installation of sound chips in computers.
On October 21, 2001, a player appeared that was destined to make a real revolution in the reproduction and distribution of music. The device made a splash. Still would! MP3 players of that time were real freaks, their very existence caused some skepticism. iPod the first generation, the appearance of which was developed by designer Jonathan Ive, looked simply exceptional against their background. And attractive design and unusual, but convenient control - he just could not help but attract attention. A hard drive with a capacity of up to 5 GB was used to store files, which made it possible to record up to 1000 songs.
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| First iPod (2001) |
iPod could only connect to computers Apple. However, the growing popularity of the device and the requests of many potential users from around the world convinced Applethat a Windows version should also be submitted. So appeared iPod second generation.
But not iPod'om one. Achievement Apple It also consists in the fact that an entire online store has been created that sells musical compositions, and at low prices. But most importantly, now the user did not have to purchase a whole album, at a time when he wanted to listen to only one song. We, people who grew up in countries of total piracy, do not understand what delight such an opportunity aroused among Western users. Steve Jobs personally traveled around the world, meeting with musicians and bands, persuading them to submit their compositions for sale in the new service. The new, as you know, scares away, and only Jobs' charisma, coupled with his ability to convince, could break this ice of mistrust. However, not everyone was so distrustful. For example, the English band U2. By the way, the cooperation between Apple and U2 was very fruitful - in 2003, the iPod U2 Special Edition entered the market, this model stood out in an unusual black color for the brand (all models that came out before were milky white) and was sold complete with the group's full discography . There were also those who were dissatisfied: once a certain British band expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that out of their entire new album, posted in the store, only one song was sold, the rest of the users simply did not pay attention. Like, it turns out that we worked in vain, but if the album was sold on disks, everything would be bought. Needless to say, this statement caused only sneers from the public? Well, and advice to create albums only from good compositions, not trying to sell "on the sly" and outright hack-work.
However, in 2010, the English band Pink Floyd defended the right to have their albums sold in their entirety. The reason was the continuity of the creations of the legendary group.
It is natural that Apple Corps I simply could not stay away from this celebration of life. Use of the "apple" logo in iTunes Store considered a clear violation of earlier agreements. New litigation began, which ended happily for Apple (moreover, the computer company also tried to go on the offensive, demanding that the plaintiff reimburse legal costs in the amount of almost three billion dollars, but this request was rejected by the judge). Apple Corps offended and decided not to put up for sale in iTunes Store compositions by The Beatles, the rights to which are wholly owned by her. For a long time, music lovers around the world have been looking forward to downloading their favorite songs of the Liverpool Four from their favorite store. * . A significant event occurred only at the end of 2010.
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| iPod nano Chromatic (2008) |
Time passed, new versions appeared iPod. Of particular note is the emergence of several lines - from the miniature and screenless Shuffle, to the advanced Touch ** , which is more like a PDA or Internet tablet than a player. Developed and iTunes Store, which now sells not only music, but also video content (movies, programs, video clips), as well as podcasts, audio books and ringtones. The number of songs has exceeded ten million.
iPod is what it once was for the portable audio market Walkman from Sony - an absolute standard. There have been repeated attempts to create an "iPod killer". For example, in 2007 a corporation Microsoft introduced media player Zune, promising that the latter will make a real revolution. But the miracle never happened, and Zune ended up occupying only a small percentage of the market.
To date, there are several series of the player: iPod classic, iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod shuffle. Also earlier there were also iPod mini, iPod photo, iPod video, now out of production. A variety of all kinds of accessories cannot but please the eye - "made for iPod" has already become a kind of brand in itself.
But, in addition to the obvious advantages, the players Apple also have a number of specific disadvantages. Many (however, this is more relevant for our latitudes) do not like binding to the program, if it is impossible to “transfer” files directly. Lovers of high-quality sound also do not really respect the iPod, I prefer products from Korean companies such as iriver, Cowon и Samsung.
recent popularity iPod started to subside. The reason is the growing popularity of his "big brother" - iPhone. Many users find it much more convenient to carry one universal device with them than several highly specialized ones.
*) By the way. At the end of 2009 Apple Corps introduced to the market a "flash drive" with a complete set of The Beatles albums, performed in the form of a small green apple. Naturally not bitten.
**) As is known, Apple belonged to the pioneers of the handheld computer market. She also owns the term PDA - Personal Digital Assistant. However, the device Apple Newton was not popular and the project was curtailed. Fans have repeatedly asked the company to return to the creation of handhelds. Apple refused, but in September 2007 introduced the iPod touch - in fact, a simplified version of iPhone, from which the telephone module was "extracted". That is, the release of a new generation of PDAs did take place, but the path to this was different. Possibilities iPod touch were so wide that he was able to compete even with portable game consoles.
