Click here for a slideshow of iPods past and present

On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs announced that “listening to music will never be the same again,” and for once the hype wasn’t far short of the mark. Apple may not have invented the digital music player but it did turn the MP3 player into a fashion icon and build a legitimate digital music industry around it. It also set standards for product design and ushered in an era of glossy, strokable technology.

THE STORY SO FAR

October 23, 2001: The iPod is born. Steve Jobs says that “Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player that lets you put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go.” The first model holds 5Gb of music – about 1,000 songs – and costs £349 in the UK.

March 21, 2002: Apple announces a 10Gb model.

July 17, 2002: The first Windows-compatible iPods are released, allowing PC users to dispense with third-party software that linked the player with their computers. The iPod is now available in 5Gb, 10Gb and 20Gb versions.

April 28, 2003: The third-generation iPod arrives, replacing mechanical buttons arranged around the scroll wheel with touch-operated controls. The player now comes with a cradle for recharging the battery and transferring music, of which it can now hold 30Gb. At the same time, Apple launches its iTunes music store in the US.

September, 8 2003: An updated model range includes a 40Gb model for £399.

January 7, 2004: The iPod mini makes its garish appearance in five metallic colours. The 4Gb hard drive holds about 1,000 songs and sells for £199 in the UK.

June 15, 2004: iTunes arrives in the UK, France and Germany.

July 19, 2004: The fourth incarnation of the iPod incorporates the ‘click wheel’ from the iPod mini, simplifying navigation and consolidating all of the controls into a single console. Apple also makes its first significant price cut, selling the 20Gb model at £219 and the 40Gb model at £299.

October 26, 2004: Apple unveils the iPod photo, which has a colour screen and space for up to 25,000 digital photos. “Having both your entire photo and music collections with you wherever you go is the next big thing,” Steve Jobs says at the launch.

January 11, 2005: Seeking to supply the demand for smaller, cheaper music players, Apple introduces the iPod shuffle. The device uses Flash memory instead of a hard drive and is available in two models, 512Mb and 1Gb, which cost £69 and £99 in the UK.

February 23, 2005: The second-generation iPod mini begins its seven-month production run, which is brought to an end by…

September 7, 2005: The debut of the iPod nano. Available in a glossy black finish as well as the traditional white, the nano is slimmer than a pencil and costs £139 for the 2Gb model and £179 for the 4Gb model.

October 12, 2005: The fifth generation of the iPod accommodates video for the first time and, like the nano, is available in black or white. The larger model has a capacity of 60Gb and a price of £299.

September 12, 2006: The iPod shuffle is reinvented as what Apple claims is the world’s smallest digital music player. The 1Gb shuffle measures 4cm by 2.5cm and costs £55. Apple also launches a revamped nano and freshens up the core iPod offering. Changes include a brighter screen, more memory and lower prices, putting an 80Gb model on sale at £259. The price has since come down to £239.

April 9, 2007: Apple sells its 100 millionth iPod.

THE NUMBERS

Although Apple has sold more than $17 billion worth of iPods, the device was not the overnight hit that in retrospect it may seem. It notched up healthy worldwide sales of 400,000 units in its first year, but at that time interest was largely confined to tech-savvy early adopters. It was when the device became fashionable that the figures really took off. Sales increased five-fold in 2004, when prices were cut (by £100 in the UK) and then repeated the feat the following year.

2002: 0.4 million*

2003: 0.9 million

2004: 4.4 million

2005: 22.5 million

2006: 39.4 million

2007: 41.4 million*

* The launch of the iPod in October 2001 fell into the first quarter of Apple's 2002 financial year. Figures for 2007 are for the first three quarters

THE IPOD V MOORE'S LAW

In early years of production, the iPod comfortably outstripped Moore's Law, which suggests that electronic memory capacity will increase exponentially, doubling every two years. In fact, the iPod's memory doubled from 5Gb to 10Gb within six months of its launch, and doubled again after another four months. Then the increases began to slow: doubling from 20Gb to 40Gb took 14 months, and then it was three years before the 80Gb device was released. Overall, it is still ahead of the curve. Six years on from the launch of the 5Gb model, its capacity has doubled four times rather than the expected three.

DATE - - MEMORY - - PRICE

10/01 - - - - - 5Gb - - - - £349

03/02 - - - - 10Gb - - - - £429

07/02 - - - - 20Gb - - - - £399

04/03 - - - - 30Gb - - - - £399

09/03 - - - - 40Gb - - - - £399

07/04 - - - - 40Gb - - - - £299

10/05 - - - - 60Gb - - - - £299

09/06 - - - - 80Gb - - - - £259

09/07 - - - - 80Gb - - - - £239

Figures for memory and price refer to the largest capacity iPod available at each date.

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