The iPod turns 2

The New York Times has come out with an article on the second anniversary of the iPod. In an attempt to look under the untouchable veneer of the iPod to see what makes it so cool, and what drives Apple to make "innovative" devices, Jobs tells him that Apple doesn't really try to innovate - innovation may result, but the attempt, always, is to create the best possible product for a given set of consumer expectations. The best part of the article:

What I had been hoping to do was catch a glimpse of what's there when you pull back all those layers -- when you penetrate the aura, strip off the surface, clear away the guts. What's under there is innovation, but where does it come from? I had given up on getting an answer to this question when I made a jokey observation that before long somebody would probably start making white headphones so that people carrying knockoffs and tape players could fool the world into thinking they had trendy iPods.

Jobs shook his head. ''But then you meet the girl, and she says, 'Let me see what's on your iPod.' You pull out a tape player, and she walks away.''


I love my iPod.
And hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! (In case you didn't notice, in the pic below, I have a tiny, off-center strip beard.)