Pixar was the home of John Lasseter and his team. Lasseter had left Disney in frustration to follow his own muse. The Mouse in the 90s was no longer creating signature animated characters, and it bought into Pixar's characters. Steve Jobs had bought into Pixar because he wanted their hardware and software; the animation was a lagniappe that eventually became the driving force, thanks in great part to his support. Over time, Disney's management (the present CEO Bob Iger) realized that the best bet for Disney was not just to work with Pixar, but to take in Pixar as a part of the overall Disney picture. Smart, and as it turned out, a win-win for both sides.
Jobs made out like a bandit in this, but by then, he was back at Apple. He was getting the company back into gear with redesigned Mac products, using exciting advertising to develop the iconic brand image. He remained an enthralling cheerleader, but he was never better than when he had a product that was worth a cheer.
In this video he introduces the iPod. It is not a flashy presentation. He is not seductive and clever. He is straightforward and explanatory. Except, considering the package, it ends with the ultimate clever seduction: the product itself.
It's fun to follow this in the light of subsequent developments. I have a 160 gig iPod, that is becoming quickly obsolete as the cloud descends to replace it. Whatever happened to Firewire (which still speedily connects my MacBook external disk drives)? And keep in mind that the original iPod was bereft of the iTunes store, which was the real game-changer, bringing music directly (and legally) to the digital age.
The first iPod was Mac only. It drove sales of Macs, Macs drove sales of iPods... 1000 songs in your pocket, indeed. It seemed like the end of the rainbow. Turns out it was only the beginning.
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