Ford Motor Company

Notably the Mondeo finished 1,2,3 in the BTCC in 2000. Apple has promoted the iPod and iTunes brands in several successful advertising campaigns, a large number of which are part of their series of silhouette commercials. Ford has campaigned touring cars such as the Focus, Falcon, and Contour/Mondeo and the Sierra Cosworth in many different series throughout the years. iPod sales according to Apple's quarterly financial results:. Most notably the GT40 won the prestigious 24 hours of LeMans many times in the 1960s and still stands today as one of the all-time greatest racing cars. iPod sales according to Apple's yearly financial results:. Ford sports cars have always been visible in the world of endurance racing. ^[39].

Ford has a very long history in rally racing, having previously run the Ford RS200 and many versions of the Ford Escort to great success. Sales by Hewlett-Packard made up 5% of all iPod sales. Ford has also been active many years in the World Rally Championship, and has used various versions of the Ford Focus WRC since 1999 to much success. In July of 2005, HP reversed its decision and announced they would stop reselling the iPod by September 2005, when existing stock were projected to be depleted. The team achieved little success, and after a turbulent four seasons, Ford pulled out of F1 after the 2004 season, selling both Jaguar Racing (which became Red Bull Racing) and Cosworth.[10]. Retailers of this model included (among others) the retail giant Wal-Mart, which included a disclaimer explaining that it would not work with its own online music service. Ford entered Formula One as a constructor in 2000 under the Jaguar Racing name, after buying out the Stewart Grand Prix team it had become increasingly involved in. The HP models were the same as the Apple iPod except for the inclusion of an "HP" logo on the back under the Apple logo and "iPod" label They were sold as the "Apple iPod + hp".

These engines were designed and manufactured by Cosworth, the racing division of which was owned by Ford from 1998 to 2004. On January 8, 2004, Hewlett-Packard announced that they would license the iPod from Apple to create an HP-branded digital audio player based on the iPod. Ford was heavily involved in Formula One for many years, and supplied engines to a large number of constructors from 1967 until 2004. ^[38]. Formula One. Most recently, Apple shipped 14.04 million iPods during the quarter that ended on December 31, 2005, a 207% increase over the same quarter one year prior. Ford powered racing cars have won the Indianapolis 500 many times. ^[37] Apple shipped 6.16 million iPods during the quarter that ended on June 25, 2005, a 616% increase over the same quarter in 2004.

John Force has piloted his Drag Ford Mustang to several NHRA funny-car titles in recent seasons. In its first quarter results of 2006, Apple reported earnings of $565 million — its highest revenue in the company's history. Ford has a storied history in the Trans-Am series from the 1970s through today having won many championships and races with its Ford Mustang. In other countries, the iPod market share is significantly lower, mostly due to high import taxes and less ubiquitous marketing, so flash memory players, or hard disk based players from competitors like Creative are dominant. Ford-Cosworth is currently the sole supplier of engines to the Champ Car World Series. That is why Flash players at the beginning of 2005 account for less than half the US market share they did in 2004 (their market share decreasing from 62% in January 2004 to 29% in January 2005 [36]). Ford's racing teams debut the Fusion race car, replacing the Taurus, at the 2006 Daytona 500. Therefore, Apple succeeded in chipping away at the mainstream Flash player market in the US.

Major teams include Roush Racing and Robert Yates Racing. This success was especially based on the introduction of the iPod mini. Ford is one of four manufacturers in the three NASCAR series: Nextel Cup, Busch Series, and Craftsman Truck Series. Within one year from January 2004 to January 2005, its US market share tremendously increased by 34% from 31% to 65%. Ford has been active in a number of forms of motor sports. [35] According to the latest financial statements, iPod's market share accounts for 74% in the US in July 2005. Ford hybrids:. ^[34] The iPod currently dominates the digital audio player market in the US, frequently topping best-seller lists.

The company is on track to selling 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010. Fortune magazine reported on June 27, 2005 that Apple had sold over 15 million iPods, including 5.3 million in the first quarter of that year. The Hybrid Escape will also be the first hybrid vehicle to market with a Flexible Fuel capability to run on E85 ethanol-gasoline mixture [9]. This equates to 100 iPods sold every minute throughout the quarter. Ford was third to market with a hybrid car — the Ford Escape Hybrid, and the first to market with a Hybrid SUV / Crossover. At the Macworld Expo keynote speech[33] on January 10, 2006, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reported sales of over 42 million iPods total, and 14 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006. Part of the challenge of successful marketing alternative and flexible fuel vehicles, is the general lack of establishment of sufficient infrastructure (fueling stations), which would be essential for these vehicles to be attractive to a wide range of consumers. Sites like iLounge and The Apple Collection have parts of their sites devoted to iPod concepts, things varying from completely touch screen iPods to iPods that include an integrated mobile phone.

Flexible fuel vehicles are designed to operate automatically on a wide range of available fuel mixtures - from pure gasoline, to ethanol-gasoline blends such as E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline). iPod design is also a part of this ecosystem. Some CNG vehicles have duel fuel tanks - one for gasoline, the other for CNG - the same engine can operate on either fuel via a selector switch. Along with the introduction of the nano they also introduced nano tubes (most likely a joke on nanotubes), a silicone case with no screen, dock connector, or headphone port protection, but a cover over the click wheel, and the hold switch. The alternative fuel vehicles, such as some versions of the Crown Victoria especially in fleet and taxi service, operate on compressed natural gas - or CNG. Apple themselves even make some. Vehicles with this emblem are generally alternative fuel or flexible-fuel vehicles. There are a host of different types and brands, all different for each iPod owners different needs.

Many Ford vehicles now sport an emblem — a green leaf springing from a curving road-like twig — symbolic of the new "green" commitment to preserve the environment and reduce resource consumption, while delivering safe, economical, and effective products to the motoring public. Some are silicone, others are hard plastic, some you can't even reach the controls through. Bill Ford was one of the first top industry executives to make regular use of an battery electric vehicle, a Ford Ranger EV, while the company contracted with the United States Postal Service to deliver electric postal vans based on the Ranger EV platform. Kate Spade, iSkin, Speck, Incase, and Chums all produce these cases. [8]. People buy these accessories not only to protect their iPods but also to make fashion statements. [7] In 2004, Ford sold 30,000 units in the region, falling far short of General Motors' 88,852 units and Nissan Motors' 75,000 units. Besides technological peripherals there are also cases.

Half of the Ford/Lincoln vehicles sold in that country were Ford Crown Victorias. Other companies (most notably Griffin Technology) make add-ons that allow your iPod to record your voice, charge your iPod on the go, play your tunes over the radio, or use your iPod wirelessly with a remote. [6] Ford's distributor in Saudi Arabia announced in February 2003 that it had sold 100,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles since commencing sales in November 1986. Companies such as JBL, Bose, Altec Lansing, and Kensington all make speakers that are designed specifically to work with the iPod, using the iPod's thirty pin dock connector. [5] Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE are the biggest markets. A host of different companies produce accessories that are designed to work with the iPod. Ford and Lincoln vehicles are currently marketed in ten countries in the region. The large accessories market that has built up around the iPod is sometimes described as the iPod ecosystem.

Ford's market presence in the Middle East has traditionally been even smaller, partly due to previous Arab boycotts of companies dealing with Israel. Arguing that the cheap songs from iTMS have contributed significantly to the iPods' great success, record labels are also seeking a share of profits from the iPod division itself and they hope to accomplish this by putting pressure on Apple to differentiate between "hot singles" and "golden oldies." Jobs responded by accusing the record industry of being greedy [26]. The Falcon model from Australia was also sold in South Africa, but was dropped in 2003. Aside from the controversial iPod-exclusive AAC format of audio files, SonyBMG and Warner Music who had initially signed on with Apple have lately complained that they have been undercharged for the value of their songs due to iTMS's flat fee. Ford now sells a local sedan version of the Fiesta (also built in India and Mexico), and the Focus and Mondeo Europe. Steve Jobs has stated "We would like to break even (or) make a little bit of money (on the iTunes Music Store) but it's not a money maker." The role of the iTMS is not to sell songs, but rather to promote the sale of iPods by offering owners a convenient service for music. Ford bought a 45 per cent stake in Samcor following the demise of apartheid in 1994, and this later became, once again, a wholly owned subsidiary, the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa. Yet Realnetworks has continued to update the technology allowing iPod owners to download purchased music from RealNetworks music store.

Samcor began to assemble Mazdas as well, which affected its product line-up, which saw the European Fords like the Escort and Sierra replaced by the Mazda-based Laser and Telstar. For a short time in 2004, RealNetworks had advertised that tracks purchased from their RealPlayer Music Store could be played on an iPod through the use of their Harmony technology; however, an iPod update released at the time of the iPod photo launch disabled files created by Harmony. Following international condemnation of apartheid, Ford divested from South Africa in 1988, and sold its stake in Samcor, although it licensed the use of its brand name to the company. Microsoft and RealNetworks have accused Apple of using iPod, the iTunes Music Store, and FairPlay to lock iPod users into using iTunes exclusively (and vice versa), creating a vertical monopoly. In the mid-1980s Ford merged with a rival company, owned by Anglo American, to form the South African Motor Corporation (Samcor). No portable music player other than the iPod can play the DRM-enabled files sold on the iTMS, and the iPod cannot play files protected with other DRM technologies, such as Microsoft's DRM format or RealNetwork's Helix-DRM system. Later Ford sourced its models from the UK and Australia, with local versions of the Ford Cortina including the XR6, with a 3.0 V6 engine, and a Cortina 'bakkie' or pick-up, which was exported to the UK. However, the files can also be burned to CD, at which time those DRM restrictions are removed.

Ford in South Africa began by importing kits from Canada to be assembled at its Port Elizabeth facility. Apple encrypts the AAC audio files using the controversial FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system, so that only authorized computers (up to five) and unlimited iPods can play them. In Africa and the Middle East, Ford's market presence has traditionally been strongest in South Africa and neighbouring countries, with only trucks being sold elsewhere on the continent. Advertised that any song was 99¢, the music bought from it can be uploaded onto the iPod and the store has become the dominant online music service, helping the sale of iPods. Ford in Brazil produces a pick-up version of the Fiesta, which is also produced in South Africa, in right hand drive as the Ford Bantam. Introduced on April 28, 2003 the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is an online music store run by Apple and built into iTunes. Models like the Ford Mondeo from Europe could now be imported completely built up. Another popular tool is vPod, a stand alone freeware tool for copying music from your PC to iPod.

Consequently, the Ford Fiesta is only built in Brazil, and the Ford Focus only built in Argentina, with each plant exporting in large volumes to the neighbouring country. Some of the more notable examples are the ml iPod plugin for Winamp, that allows users to manage their iPod content through Winamp, and Anapod Explorer, produced by Redchair Software, which presents a Windows Explorer-like interface for managing the content on an iPod. With the advent of Mercosur, the regional common market, Ford was able to rationalise its product line-ups in those countries. Many of these third-party tools allows functionality not available through iTunes, such as the ability to copy music off the iPod back to the host PC. Autolatina was dissolved in the 1990s. However, several third-party tools exists that addressed synchronization of the iPod. In the 1980s, Ford merged its operations in Brazil and Argentina with those of Volkswagen to form a company called Autolatina, with which it shared models. Apple Computer endorses only one official method for synchronizing with the iPod: iTunes.

For example, the Corcel and Del Rey in Brazil were originally based on Renaults. Additionally, many aftermarket stereo manufacturers Kenwood, Alpine, etc, have iPod integration solutions to allow one of their head units to control and play music from an iPod. In some cases, it based its models on those of other manufacturers whose plants it had taken over. Virtually any vehicle that has a factory CD changer controller port on the stereo can be integrated with an iPod using this kit. In South America, Ford has had to face protectionist government measures in each country, with the result that it built different models in different countries with no rationalisation or economies of scale. Using Peripheral Electronics' iPod2Car adaptor kit, an iPod can be thus integrated into many vehicles which wouldn't otherwise allow it. It has since added Fusion, Fiesta, Mondeo and Endeavour to its product line. In 2006, this feature will also be available in other foreign cars (outside US): Japan: Lexus, Nissan, Mazda, Daihatsu, BMW, MINI, smart, and Alfa Romeo.

Ford came to India in 1998 with its Ford Escort model, which was later replaced by locally produced Ford Ikon in 2001. This feature will also be available in other cars soon: Audi, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Honda, Infiniti, Jeep, Nissan, and Volkswagen. Ford also has a joint venture with Lio Ho in Taiwan, which assembled Ford models locally since the 1970s. This feature is only available in certain cars:. Ironically, Hyundai also manufactured the Ford Cortina until the 1980s. In some cars, music can be controlled through the steering wheel. Through its relationship with Mazda, Ford also acquired a stake in South Korean manufacturer Kia, which later built the Ford Aspire for export to the United States, but later sold the company to Hyundai. Not to be confused with "iPod your Car" which allows car integration on a personal car, iPod Car integration allows one to connect an iPod to a car, and listen to premade car playlists for the car, or the entire library through car speakers.

and Asia as the Ford Festiva. Some reviews in the arstechnica.com showed that the battery in iPod nano is soldered in the mainboard and in the 5G iPod it is more difficult to be removed and "It's actually affixed to the metal backplate and sits above its own power management circuitry and right next the headphone port and its driver circuitry". The smaller Mazda 121 was also sold in the U.S. The big question now is if the 5th Generation iPod battery can be replaced by users in the same manner as the other generations of iPod. as the Mercury Tracer, while the 1989 American Ford Escort was based on the Laser/Mazda 323. These batteries often contain more capacity than the standard Apple batteries. The Laser was also built in Mexico and sold in the U.S. As a response to the battery problem, multiple 3rd parties [23] [24] [25] have appeared that are selling iPod battery replacement kits for one third of the price that Apple charges customers for a battery replacement.

The Laser was one of the most successful models sold by Ford in Australia, and outsold the Mazda 323, despite being almost identical to it. [22]. However, with the acquisition of a stake in Japanese manufacturer Mazda in 1979, Ford began selling Mazda's Familia and Capella (also known as the 323 and 626) as the Ford Laser and Telstar. Some iPod users also defended Apple by pointing out that their iPods had lasted longer than 18 months, while other viewers suggested that the brothers had attacked Apple solely for the sake of publicity. Ford's presence in Asia has traditionally been much smaller. The movie depicted the Brothers vandalizing Apple ads in the New York City area with graffiti proclaiming that "iPod's unreplaceable battery lasts only 18 months." [21] The movie was widely linked and viewed, with much of the commentary failing to mention Apple's recent change in policy. In Australia they comprise over 20% of the new car market. The movie, called iPod's Dirty Secret, apparently made before the change in policy, expressed anger because the battery on their early model iPod had failed after eighteen months and Apple refused to replace it.

In both Australia and New Zealand, the Commodore and Falcon outsell all other cars. On November 21, 2003, a short film produced by iPod owners The Neistat Brothers was released on the Internet. These cars produce over 400bhp and are built in small numbers to increase their value as collectors' cars. [20]. In addition, Ford Australia sells highly-tuned Falcon sedans and utes through its performance car division, Ford Performance Vehicles. On November 14, 2003, Apple quietly announced a battery replacement program that initially cost $99 [19] (now $59), and one week later offered users the option to extend the warranty of their iPods for $59. A ute (short for "utility," known in the US as pickup truck) version is also available with a similar range of drivetrains. This situation led to a small market for third-party battery replacement kits.

High performance variants of the Falcon running locally-built engines produce up to 390bhp. The official policy was that the customer should buy a refurbished replacement iPod, at a cost almost equivalent to a brand new iPod. Like its General Motors rival, the Holden Commodore, the 4.0 liter Falcon retains rear wheel drive. Compounding this problem, Apple would not replace worn-out batteries either. Ford of that name, but since then has been entirely designed and manufactured locally. This is unusually difficult for a consumer device, but at least half a dozen well-known rivals to the iPod have a similarly enclosed battery. Between 1960 and 1972, the Falcon was based on a U.S. The battery in all iPod models cannot be removed or replaced by the user without levering the unit open.

In Australia and New Zealand, the popular Ford Falcon is considered the typical (if not particularly economical) family car, though it is considerably larger than the Mondeo sold in Europe. Apple has published guidelines on its web site for maximizing the life of an iPod battery. Another joint venture plant near Setubal in Portugal, set up in collaboration with Volkswagen, assembles the Galaxy people carrier as well as its sister ship, the VW Sharan. In other words, the battery will continue to have a useful life through the equivalent of five hundred complete discharges and recharges; through time and use, the life of the battery will generally decrease until eventually it is not able to power the iPod for more than a few minutes. This new production facility was set up near Kocaeli in 2002, and its opening marked the end of Transit assembly in Genk. Like most lithium-based batteries, the iPod battery lasts roughly 500 full recharge cycles. Ford-Otosan, established in the 1970s, manufactures the Transit Connect compact panel van as well as the "Jumbo" and long wheelbase versions of the full-size Transit. Apple designed the iPod with an internal lithium ion battery that users cannot easily replace (the first and second generation iPods used lithium polymer batteries).

Ford also owns a joint venture production plant in Turkey. The nano originally wasn't shipped with these, but after the complaints Apple started bundling them with no price change. Transit production is in Kocaeli (Turkey), Southampton (UK), and Transit Connect in Kocaeli. For this reason Apple has started packaging both the nano and the 5th Generation iPod with cloth carrying cases which help to prevent scratches to the screen and body, both the plastic front and metal back, but do not provide unfettered access to the screen or controls. Petersberg (Russia). There have been a number of complaints about the Nano's screen being too soft, resulting in it becoming easily scratched or even broken if put under any strain. Elsewhere in continental Europe, Ford assembles the Mondeo range in Genk (Belgium), Fiesta in Valencia (Spain) and Cologne (Germany), Ka in Valencia and Focus in Valencia, Saarlouis (Germany) and St. The iPod nano is available in white and black, in both 2 GB (US$199) and 4 GB (US$249) configurations.

Ford's Halewood Assembly Plant was converted to Jaguar production. The click wheel is used to input the digits to the passcode. It owns the Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin car plants in Britain which are still operational. The screenlock option lets users set a 4 digit passcode for their iPod, and once the screenlock is activated the only buttons that can be pressed are the skip forwards and backwards and the play/pause buttons. Ford also produced the Thames range of commercial vehicles although the use of this brand name was discontinued circa 1965. The nano saves the user's stopwatch stats for multiple timing sessions, which is useful for comparing times. Development of European Ford is broadly split between Dunton in Essex (powertrain, Fiesta/Ka and commercial vehicles) and Cologne (body, chassis, electrical, Focus, Mondeo) in Germany. While the timer is on, the Start button changes to a Lap button that allows the user to time individual laps.

It was the first time in more than eighty years that Ford cars had not been made in Britain, although production of the Transit van continues at the company's Southampton facility, engines at Bridgend and Dagenham, and transmissions at Halewood. The stopwatch feature allows users to press Start to start the timer, and the Stop button to stop. In 2001, Ford ended car production in the UK. The clocks can be set to adjust for Daylight Saving Time. The Focus has been one exception to this, which has become America's best selling compact car since its launch in 2000. The world clock allows users to set the time in cities around the world, and set alarms for each time zone. In Asia, models from Europe are not as competitively priced as Japanese-built rivals, nor are they perceived as reliable. These features were new to the iPod operating system, including the addition of world clocks, a stopwatch, and a screenlock option.

have been disappointing. The iPod nano has several features that would later be included into the fifth generation iPod. Increasingly, Ford Motor Company has looked to Ford of Europe for its "world cars," such as the Mondeo, Focus, and Fiesta, although sales of European-sourced Fords in the U.S. The nano is the first dock connector iPod that cannot sync to any PC (Windows or Mac) via FireWire cable, though it can still be charged via a Firewire connection. The Ford Sierra replaced the Taunus and Cortina in 1982, drawing criticism for its radical aerodynamic styling, which was soon given nicknames such as "Jellymould" and "The Salesman's Spaceship". It retains the standard 30-pin dock connector for compatibility with third-party peripherals. Rationalisation of model ranges meant that production of many models in the UK switched to elsewhere in Europe, including Belgium and Spain as well as Germany. The headphone jack is located on the bottom.

Later on, the Ford Taunus and Ford Cortina became identical, produced in left hand drive and right hand drive respectively. It has a 65,536 color display that can show photographs, and connects to a computer via USB 2.0. At first, Ford in Germany and the United Kingdom built different models from one another until the late 1960s, with the Ford Escort and then the Ford Capri being common to both companies. Based on flash memory instead of a hard drive, the iPod nano is 0.27 inches (6.9 millimeters) thick, weighs 1.5 ounces (42 grams), and is 62% smaller by volume than its predecessor. One recent exception is the Focus — The European model has sold strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. On September 7, 2005, Apple announced the successor to the iPod mini, the iPod nano. The Mondeo was dropped by Ford Australia, because the segment of the market in which it competes had been in steady decline, with buyers preferring the larger local model, the Falcon. or 22 g) and approximates in size to a pack of chewing gum (originally, the iPod shuffle website contained a footnote advising people not to eat the iPod shuffle like gum; it was later removed, possibly because several users photographed themselves with their iPod shuffles in their mouths.) Like the rest of the iPod family, iPod shuffle can operate as a USB mass storage device.

The small European model Ka, a hit in its home market, did not catch on in Japan, as it was not available as an automatic. The iPod shuffle weighs less than one ounce (0.78 oz. models such as the Ford Taurus have fared poorly in Japan and Australia, even when produced in right hand drive. Users can set iTunes to fill iPod shuffle with a random selection from their music library each time the device connects to the computer. Attempts to globalize the model line have often failed, with Europe's Ford Mondeo selling poorly in the United States, while U.S. The iPod shuffle has no screen and therefore has limited options for navigating between music tracks: users can play songs either in the order set in iTunes or in a random (shuffled) order. were essentially versions of those sold on the home market, but later on, models specific to Europe were developed and sold. One review regards it as having one of the best-sounding audio systems of all the iPod models.

Initially, Ford models sold outside the U.S. The shuffle has a SigmaTel processor. Ford's non-manufacturing operations include organizations such as automotive finance operation Ford Motor Credit Company. Unlike other iPod models, iPod shuffle cannot play Apple Lossless or AIFF encoded audio files—possibly due to the iPod shuffle's smaller processing power. Its prestige brands, with the exception of Lincoln, are managed through its Premier Automotive Group. The shuffle comes in two models: 512 MB (up to 120 4-minute songs encoded at 128 kbit/s) and 1 GB (up to 240). It has spun off its parts division under the name Visteon. iPod shuffle introduced flash memory (rather than a hard drive) to iPods for the first time.

of Jaguar), and Land Rover, and Volvo Cars from Sweden, as well as a controlling share (33.4%) of Mazda of Japan, with which it operates an American joint venture plant in Flat Rock, Michigan called Auto Alliance. Apple announced iPod shuffle at Macworld Expo on January 11, 2005 with the taglines "Life is random" and "Give chance a chance". Since 1989, Ford has acquired British nameplates Aston Martin, Jaguar, Daimler (div. With the introduction of the iPod nano, the iPod mini was discontinued. Ford also has a cooperative agreement with Russian automaker GAZ. Also, the second generation iPod minis did not include the AC adapter or the FireWire cable bundled with previous models. Ford has major manufacturing operations in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, China, and several other countries, including South Africa where, following divestment during apartheid, it once again has a wholly-owned subsidiary. In addition, they featured richer case colors (though Apple discontinued the gold color) and other minor aesthetic changes (the color of the lettering on the click wheel now matched the color of the iPod mini).

Later, in 1985, the Merkur brand was introduced; it met a similar fate in 1989. Most notably, both models featured an increased battery life of up to 18 hours. In 1958, Ford introduced a new marque, the Edsel, but poor sales led to its discontinuation in 1960. In February 2005, the second-generation [18] iPod mini came on the market with a new 6 GB model at $249 and an updated 4 GB model priced at $199. Today, Ford Motor Company manufactures automobiles under the Lincoln and Mercury brand names. Silver models sold best, followed by blue ones, while the least popular was the gold. A joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra Limited of India ended with the sale of Ford's 15 percent stake in 2005. Apple initially made iPod mini devices available in five colors: silver, gold, blue, pink, and green.

The sale was completed on December 22, 2005. The center button still acted as a select button. Ford's realignment also included the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hertz Rent-a-Car to a private equity group for $15 billion in cash and debt acquisition. iPod mini introduced the popular "click wheel" that was incorporated into later iPods: the touch-sensitive wheel means that users can move a finger around it to highlight selections on the screen, while the unit's Menu, Back, Forward, and Play/Pause buttons are part of the wheel itself, letting a user press down on part of the wheel to activate one of those functions. automotive market share since the mid-late 1990s. Critics panned it as too expensive, but it proved to be overwhelmingly popular, and Apple Stores had difficulty keeping the model in stock. These cutbacks are consistent with Ford's roughly 25% decline in U.S. It had 4 GB of storage and a price of $249 (at the time, only $50 below the 15 GB third-generation iPod).

Up to 30,000 hourly and salaried jobs (28% of the total workforce) in North America over the next six years are expected to be eliminated ^[4], which is comparable to similar cutbacks previously announced at General Motors. On January 6, 2004, Apple introduced the first iPod mini. Louis), Atlanta Assembly (near Atlanta), Batavia Transmission (Batavia, Ohio), Windsor Casting (Windsor, Ontario, Canada), and Wixom Assembly (Wixom, Michigan). The iPod mini was discontinued on September 7, 2005 after Apple announced it was to be replaced by the iPod nano, which was 62% smaller in size and included a color screen. Louis Assembly (near St. iPod minis used Microdrive hard drives for storage. Among these are plants in St. Its smaller display had one less line than previous models, limiting the on-screen track identification to title and artist only, and not the album.

"The Way Forward" includes resizing the company to match current market realities, dropping some unprofitable and inefficient models, consolidating production lines, and shutting down seven vehicle assembly plants and seven parts factories. The iPod mini had largely the same feature set as the full-sized iPod, but lacked support for some third-party accessories. Fields previewed the Plan, dubbed "The Way Forward", at the December 7, 2005 board meeting of the company; and it was unveiled to the public on January 23, 2006. Apple entered the market for "mini"-form-factor digital audio players in January 2004, with the introduction of the iPod mini, competing directly with players like Creative's Zen Micro and Digital Networks Rio Carbon. In the latter half of 2005, Chairman Bill Ford asked newly-appointed Ford Americas Division President Mark Fields to develop a plan to return the company to profitability. The price point remains the same as the fourth-generation model. Making good profits across the product line requires that the company reduce the costs of development and production, while introducing new products that connect with consumers. The capacity of the iPod was increased to 30 GB from the previous 20 GB.

Over time, it hopes to make more of its product line profitable instead of relying on a limited portion of the products for profit. The new Harry Potter iPod retains the laser engraved Hogwarts crest on back of the device and is sold with the "complete Harry Potter" (the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series). Ford responded to the circumstances that lead to the bond downgrade by creating a plan to reduce the company's fixed capital costs while maintaining a special focus on cars and car-based crossover vehicles. On October 12, 2005 Apple reintroduced the Harry Potter collectible iPod along with the update of the iPod line. However, Ford hopes to reverse this trend, with the introduction of the new 2006 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr midsize cars, which are expected to compete well in this segment. A third-party addon will still be required in order to record audio on the iPod, as it was in previous generations. For owners who frequently trade in and for those who lease their vehicles, the resale values are reflected in substantial cost differences with domestic vehicles costing more in overall costs. Other notable improvements include the reduction of minor audio defects, such as hard drive noise being heard through the headphone jack, as well as an increase in recording quality to 44.1 kHz stereo, 22.05 kHz mono.

These perceptions are reflected in the used car market by higher values for these foreign models. The fifth-generation iPod no longer supports file transfers via FireWire, but still supports charging using FireWire. As far as the other non-truck models, many (with the notable exception of the 2005 Mustang) have been disadvantaged in the marketplace owing to a perception by buyers that foreign manufactures (especially Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai) deliver better value in terms of fuel economy, reliability, and build quality. One must purchase one separately in order to charge it from the AC. These vehicles were revealed at the 2006 North American International Auto Show and other car shows. Apple has also discontinued the inclusion of an AC adapter and FireWire cable. In the fall of 2006, Ford is scheduled to introduce the 2007 Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, and Mazda CX-7. The fifth-generation iPod also comes with a thin slip case, most likely in response to many complaints concerning the iPod nano's easily scratchable surface.

These vehicles have proven to be very popular in the market, and Ford has introduced such vehicles as the Escape (including a Hybrid-Electric version), along with the similar Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute, and the Freestyle and Volvo XC70 and Volvo XC90 crossover SUVs. In addition, the earphones plug is smaller. Foreign manufacturers, not having the truck manufacturing capabilities to form a platform base for similar vehicles, have instead introduced so called "crossover" SUV's — vehicles built on an automobile or minivan platform rather than a truck chassis. Like the iPod nano, it comes in two colors, white and black, and it features the World Clock, Stopwatch, and Screen Lock applications. Due to higher fuel prices, there has been a decrease in the profits on these vehicles owing to "incentives" (in the form of rebates or low interest financing), which were needed due to declining sales. Griffin has, however, released a new version of the iTrip for the new iPod, which mounts to the dock connector on the bottom of the unit. These downgrades were a recognition of high health care costs for an aging workforce and of the dependence of the company on profits from the sales of sport utility vehicles. Gone from the fifth-generation iPod is the remote control accessory port, previously found beside the headphone port, meaning that accessories such as the Griffin iTrip will no longer work.

In May 2005, several bond rating agencies downgraded the bonds of Ford Motor Company to below investment grade (so called "junk bonds"). The headphone jack has been moved from the center of the top to the right of the top, while the hold switch has been moved to the left side of the top. Ford also continues to study Fuel Cell-powered electric powertrains, and is currently demonstrating hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine technologies, as well as developing the next-generation hybrid-electric systems. Apple has stopped using the click wheels used in the fourth generation iPod and iPod mini from their previous supplier, Synaptics Inc of San Jose, CA, and now uses an in-house solution. The similar Mazda Tribute will also receive a hybrid-electric powertrain option, along with many other vehicles in the Ford vehicle line. The new click wheel is completely flat, unlike older models where the center button is slightly rounded. The Escape's platform mate Mercury Mariner is also available with the hybrid-electric system in the 2006 model year—a full year ahead of schedule—due to high demand. The click wheel design is the same as the previous generation, but is marginally smaller than before.

Ford did achieve significant progress toward improving fuel efficiency during 2005, with the successful introduction of the Hybrid-Electric Escape. Watching movies reduces that amount to 2 and 3 hours respectively. However in 2003, Ford announced that competitive market conditions, and technological and cost challenges, would prevent the company from achieving this goal. The reported battery life for the 30 GB is 14 hours and for the 60 GB is around 20 hours. In 2000, under the leadership of the current Ford chairman, William Clay (Bill) Ford, the Company stunned the industry (and pleased environmentalists) with an announcement of a planned 25 percent improvement in the average mileage of its light truck fleet — including its popular SUVs — to be completed by the 2005 calendar year. It is also 30% thinner than the previous full-size iPod. Henry Ford's great-grandson, William Clay Ford Jr., is the company's current Chairman of the Board and CEO. The screen size is now 2.5" (6.35 cm) diagonally, 0.5" larger than the previous iPod.

Alex Trotman was Chairman and CEO from 1993-1998, and Jacques Nasser served at the helm from 1999-2001. It can also display video on an external TV using the iPod AV or S-video cables with the iPod Universal Dock [17], however video watched on a TV is often of poor quality due to the fact that iPod video can only play videos up to 480x480. Harold Poling served as Chairman and CEO from 1990-1993. It has a 65,536 color (16-bit) screen, [15] with a 320 x 240 QVGA transflective TFT display, and is able to display video on an external TV via the AV cable accessory [16], which plugs into the headphone minijack and splits into composite video and audio output connectors with RCA jacks. By 1967, Ford had expanded into Europe. However, the 30 and 60 GB versions differ in body thickness, the 30 GB version being slightly thinner. In the 1950s, Ford introduced the Thunderbird. On October 12, 2005, Apple announced at the "One more thing..." [14] event, the fifth-generation iPod, which featured the ability to play MPEG-4 and H.264 video with resolutions of up to 480 x 480 (maximum pixel count of 230,400) and 320 x 240 (maximum pixel count of 76,800), respectively (videos purchased from the iTunes Music Store are limited to 320 x 240.) Some users have reported the ability to play widescreen resolutions up to 640x360 using MPEG-4 and 400x192 using H.264 (total pixel count is equal to the stated maximums) The new models are available in 30 and 60 GB capacities and are priced the same as the previous generation at $299 and $399 USD, respectively.

"Hank the Deuce" led Ford to became a publicly traded corporation in 1956; however, the Ford family maintained controlling interests in the company through a series of preferred stocks. The only way to get a Harry Potter Collector's iPod is to buy it online [13] along with the complete set of Harry Potter audiobooks, at a combined price (as of October 25, 2005) of $548 USD. Henry Ford II, grandson of Henry Ford, served as President from 1945-1960, and as Chairman and CEO from 1960-1980. The iPod was launched along with the Harry Potter audiobooks on the iTunes Music Store. ^[3]. [12]. In 1925, Ford expanded its reach into the luxury auto market through its acquisition of the Lincoln Motor Company, and the Mercury division was established in the 1930s to serve the mid-price auto market. This model was superseded on October 12, 2005 with a fifth generation Harry Potter 30 GB Collector's iPod.

Due to market constraints, however, the company finally gave in and followed its competitors' lead when on December 2, 1927, Ford unveiled the redesigned Ford Model A and retired the Model T. On September 7, 2005, Apple released a limited-edition Harry Potter fourth-generation 20 GB iPod that featured a laser engraved Hogwarts crest on the back. Ford resisted following suit, insisting that such credit would hurt the consumer and the economy. The U2 iPod was the last iPod to ship with Firewire connection cables and firmware, prompting some analysts to speculate about the future inclusion of Firewire interfaces on Apple products. They also extended credit so consumers could buy these more expensive automobiles. On October 12, 2005, Apple discontinued the iPod U2 Special Edition with the introduction of the fifth-generation iPod. General Motors and other competitors began offering automobiles in more colors, and with more features and luxuries. On June 28, 2005, at the same time as the announcement of the merger of the iPod and the iPod photo lines, Apple added a color screen and photo capabilities to the iPod U2 Special Edition while dropping the price to $329.

To keep prices low, Ford (at the behest of its owner, Henry Ford) offered few features. [11]. The company's goal was to produce an inexpensive automobile that any worker could afford. It also included an iTunes Music Store coupon redeemable for $50 off of the price of The Complete U2, a "digital boxed set" featuring over 400 tracks of U2 music. The Ford company lost market share during the 1920s due to the rise of consumer credit. Originally retailing for $349, it had a black front with a red click wheel (the colors of U2's latest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb), and featured the signatures of U2's band members engraved on the back. On January 1, 1919, Edsel Ford succeeded his father as president of the company, although Henry Ford still kept a hand in management. On October 28, 2004, Apple released a black-and-red edition of the fourth-generation iPod called iPod U2 Special Edition.

Referring to the Model T, Henry Ford is reported to have said that "any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." This was because black paint was quickest to dry; earlier models had been available in a variety of colors. To fix this problem, a small piece of cellophane wrap with a hole in it or a thin, non-conductive washer may be placed between the headphone jack and the plug. By the end of 1913, Ford was producing 50% of all cars in the United States, and by 1918 half of all cars in the country were Model T's. The likely cause for this malfunction is that a small metal disk on the base of the earphone plugs makes electrical contact with the metallic back of iPod, tripping the detection mechanism. However these innovations were not popular, and in order to stop the staff deserting the monotonous jobs, on January 5, 1914, Ford took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day, and cut shifts from nine hours to an eight hour day — moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, most soon followed suit. This erroneous detection occurs with some third-party headphones (such as Sennheiser models), but users have also reported experiencing the problem with the supplied Apple earbuds. Ford introduced the world's first moving assembly line on December 1 that year, which reduced chassis assembly time from 12½ hours in October to 2 hours, 40 minutes. A headphone contact switch, in coordination with iPod's auto-pause feature, is supposed to pause the music playback if the headphones are disconnected, but incorrectly detects that the headphones have been removed.

The company was forced to move production to the much larger Highland Park Plant to keep up with the demand for the Model T, and by 1913 had developed all of the basic techniques of the assembly line and mass production. These iPods have a glitch that causes them to pause on their own, despite the hold switch being activated. The first Model Ts were built at the Piquette Manufacturing Plant. Popular optional accessories included the dock, a FireWire cable (which owners could use in lieu of USB), an iPod AV cable (to view photo albums on a TV set), and an iPod Camera Connector (to transfer and view images directly from a digital camera to an iPod). In 1908, the Ford company released the Ford Model T. The new fourth-generation line of iPods/Color iPods came bundled with a USB cable and an AC adapter. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. New Mac computers are bundled with iPhoto, while Windows users must either use the limited features within iTunes for Windows or purchase either of the Adobe products (a limited version of Adobe Album is available for download for free).

During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. To manage the photo library on iPod, Mac users use Apple's iPhoto software, while Windows users can use Adobe Photoshop Album or Elements, or use a limited set of features within the free iTunes for Windows software. Ford was launched from a converted wagon factory, with $28,000 cash from twelve investors. Along with the new lineup, Apple also updated iTunes to version 4.9, which added podcasting capabilities to iTunes and to iPod. . Apple Computer — as well as prominent fan sites (such as iLounge) — continued to refer to this lineup as fourth-generation iPods. As the individual work tasks became simple and repetitive this allowed the use of unskilled laborers who could be quickly trained for a single task (though it also removed most of the satisfaction that a worker performing multiple tasks may enjoy). The price of the 60GB iPod photo, now known as iPod 60GB, dropped from $449 to $399, and Apple discontinued the $349 30GB iPod photo model.

The use of a chain-driven track to move the vehicles to the workers was unique in the industry and quickly became the preferred method for volume production. On June 28, 2005, Apple Computer merged the iPod and iPod photo lines, [10] removing all monochrome models from the main iPod line, giving the 20GB iPod all of the capabilities of the former iPod photo line for $299, the same price as the previous monochrome version. Ford implemented the ideas of Eli Whitney, who developed one of the first assembly lines using interchangeable parts, which made it possible to put the cars together at a much lower cost and with greater reliability and repeatability. However, unlike the first iPod photos, the lower-priced 60GB and the new 30GB models lacked the dock, FireWire cable, carrying case, or AV cables (accessories valued at approximately $120). Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars, and large-scale management of an industrial workforce. On February 23, 2005, Apple discontinued the 40GB model; which included a FireWire & USB cable and a dock, introduced a lower-priced 30GB model; which included only a USB cable and no dock, and dropped the price of the 60GB model. Ford remains one of the world's ten largest corporations by revenue. It originally came in 40GB and 60GB versions, which cost $499 and $599, respectively.

Toyota surpassed Ford in revenue starting in 2004. One millimeter thicker than the standard monochrome fourth-generation iPod, iPod photo could also play music for up to 15 hours per battery charge. In its 20th century heyday, Ford, along with General Motors and Chrysler, were known as Detroit's "Big Three" automakers, companies that dominated the American auto market. Released on October 28, 2004, iPod photo (originally named iPod Photo — with a capital P for "Photo" — but renamed less than a month after its launch) featured a 220 x 176-pixel (maximum pixel count of 38,720), 16-bit color screen capable of displaying 65,536 colors, and the ability to store and display JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and PNG images. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, United States (where the company is currently headquartered), and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The monochrome fourth generation iPod, slightly thinner (about 1 mm less) than the third generation iPod, introduced the ability to charge the battery over a USB connection. The Ford Motor Company (often referred to as Ford; sometimes nicknamed FoMoCo), NYSE: F is a multinational corporation that manufactures automobiles. It came in one of two sizes: 20 GB for $299 and 40 GB for $399 (Apple discontinued the 40 GB model in February 2005 and began solely selling a monochrome 20 GB version).

January 23, 2006. Originally, the fourth generation iPod had a monochrome screen and no photo capabilities, like its predecessors. Washington Post. After many requests from users asking for these improvements to operate on earlier iPods as well, Apple on February 23, 2005, released a firmware update which brings the new menu items to first through third generation iPods. ^  Ford to Cut Thousands of Jobs and Close 14 Factories. Other minor changes included the addition of a "Shuffle Songs" option on the top-level menu to make it more convenient for users. ^  Ford Motor Company - History. Apple also claimed that updated software in the new iPod allows it to use the battery more efficiently and increase battery life to 12 hours.

[11]. Some users criticized the click wheel because it does not have the backlight that the third generation iPod's buttons had, but others noted that having the buttons on the compass points largely removed any need for backlighting. Rochester, New York:St Ives Inc Case-Hoyt. In the most obvious difference from its predecessors, the fourth generation iPod carries over the click-wheel design introduced on the iPod mini. 2003 Annual Report. In a new publicity route, Steve Jobs announced it by becoming the subject of a Newsweek magazine cover. Ford Motor Company. In July 2004, Apple released the fourth generation iPod.

2009– Ford Edge/Lincoln MKX. Although past models proved widely popular, after the release of the third generation model Apple's iPod sales skyrocketed, with a combination of effective advertising and celebrity endorsement making iPods a fashionable item. 2009– Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego. When purchased through the online Apple Store, the iPod featured custom engraving: a purchaser could have two lines of text laser engraved on the back for free. 2008– Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan. The third generation iPod could not charge through USB 2.0 however). 2006– Mercury Mariner. These iPods also introduced Hi-Speed USB connectivity (with a separately sold USB adapter cable.

2004– Ford Escape. Instead, all iPods now shipped with their hard drives formatted for Macintosh use; the included CD-ROM featured a Windows utility which could reformat them for use with a Windows PC. With the third generation iPod, Apple stopped shipping separate Mac and Windows versions of the unit. The touch-sensitive buttons, which build upon the touch-sensitive scroll wheel introduced in the second generation iPod, make the third generation iPod unique in that it has no external moving parts (other than the hold slider on the top of the unit) and is the first iPod that doesn't have its buttons surrounding the wheel. The new buttons featured red backlighting (controlled by the same preference as the screen backlight), allowing easier use in darkness.

The third generation iPod featured touch-sensitive buttons located below the display. The iPod Dock came bundled with all but the least expensive iPod, and also retails separately. This allows them to fit more easily into the new iPod Dock which Apple introduced at the same time. These iPods use a 30-pin connector called the Dock Connector — longer and flatter than a FireWire plug.

Over the life of the third generation iPod series, Apple produced 10 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB, 30 GB, and 40 GB sizes. Slightly smaller than their predecessors, they had more distinctively beveled edges. On April 28, 2003, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced an "ultrathin" iPod series. The second generation iPod came with carrying cases and wired remotes and it was the first generation that was compatible with Windows.

Due to the new Toshiba hard drives, the 20 GB iPod slightly exceeded its first generation counterpart in thickness and weight, while the 10 GB model was slimmer. Introduced on July 17, 2002, at Macworld in 10 GB and 20 GB capacities, the second generation iPod replaced the mechanical scroll wheel of the original with a touch-sensitive, nonmechanical one (manufactured by Synaptics), termed a "touch wheel". Perhaps somewhat an antique, the original iPod is very rare to find nowadays, as technology has, indeed, progressed to new possibilities. Although superseded by nonmechanical "touch" and "click" wheels, the circular controller design has become a prominent iPod motif.

The first generation iPod featured four buttons (Menu, Play/Pause, Back, and Forward) arranged around the circumference of the scroll wheel. Apple designed a mechanical scroll wheel and outsourced the implementation and development to Synaptics, a firm that also developed the trackpad used by many laptops, including Apple's PowerBooks. Apple announced a 10 GB version ($499) in March 2002. [9] Critics panned the unit's price, but iPod proved an instant hit in the marketplace, quickly overtaking earlier hard drive MP3 players such as the NOMAD Jukebox.

First announced on October 23, 2001, the original iPod cost $399 with a 5 GB hard drive. One can scale this proportion up; the current 30-gigabyte iPod can hold roughly 7,500 songs, though the Apple website states that 'actual formatted capacity may be lower.'. Encoding songs at higher bitrates will take up more space on the hard drive. For the first and second generation iPod, 1 gigabyte will hold 200 songs.

Note that Apple claims that 1 gigabyte of storage will hold 250, 4-minute songs in 128 kbit/s AAC. Currently, Apple sells two sizes of iPod: a 30 GB hard drive for $299, and a 60 GB model for $399. During the third generation, three sizes of iPods have coexisted in the marketplace at any given time, priced at US $299, $399, and $499. Within any generation of iPods, various models with different sizes of hard drives have come onto the market at different price points.

Five distinct generations of iPods exist, commonly known as: first, second, third, fourth and fifth generations. While all iPods have roughly the same size and the same capabilities, the design has undergone several revisions since its introduction to the market. Some of this is also taken up by the iPod's firmware. For example, a 4 GB iPod mini actually had 3.77 GiB of usable storage.

This comes about because the capacity advertised uses metric prefixes, not binary prefixes. As with most hard drive-based devices, the actual drive space available for music, photo, video and data storage does not quite attain the advertised capacity. Several product revisions have taken place since the original model of iPod appeared, leading to the existence of five distinct generations. The Harry Potter 20 GB Collector's fourth-generation iPod was replaced by the Harry Potter 30 GB Collector's iPod, which is simply a fifth-generation iPod with a Harry Potter engraving and the Harry Potter audiobooks pre-loaded.

The iPod U2 Special Edition was also discontinued. The iPod mini (4 GB and 6 GB and in various colors) are now discontinued, having been replaced by the iPod nano. The model range as of October 12, 2005 includes:. Some models come with different capacities (a higher capacity allows the storage of more music) or with different designs.

Apple currently markets three distinct players bearing the iPod name. An iPod unable to start (due to either a firmware or a hardware problem) displays the "sad iPod" image, reminiscent of the sad Mac icon of earlier Macintosh computers. iPods with FireWire ports can be put into FireWire Disk Mode, in which it behaves like a FireWire hard drive without any of the additional iPod functionality. Fourth and fifth generation iPods, second generation iPod minis, iPod nanos and iPod shuffles automatically pause playback when headphones are unplugged from the headphone jack, and turn on when you put the headphones into the headphone jack.

Setting this switch to display orange will make the buttons and scroll wheel unresponsive, so that users do not activate them accidentally. A 'Hold' switch also exists on the top of the unit. (Note that fourth and fifth-generation iPods, iPod minis, and iPod nanos incorporate these buttons into the "click wheel" scroll wheel.). iPods (other than the iPod shuffle) have five buttons:.

iPod contains a small internal speaker which generates the scroll-wheel clicks and alarm clock beep sound, but this internal speaker cannot play music. A servicer can pry the iPod open by carefully inserting a small non-metal screwdriver to pull the metal away from the clips. The plastic front of the case has clips which lock under a ridge inside the rim of the metal case back. The unit's case snaps together, with no screws or glue involved (though the fourth generation has some glue holding the battery in place).

From left to right:. This photograph shows the internal view of a third-generation iPod:. The iPod mini uses the "Espy Sans" font (previously seen in eWorld, the Newton, and Copland), while the color fourth-generation iPods (previously known as iPod photo) and fifth-generation iPods use Myriad, Apple's current corporate typeface. Until the release of iPod mini, the user interface of all iPods used "Chicago", the font used on the original Macintosh computer from 1984.

More recent iPods, such as the nano and 5th Generation, also incorporate the "brushed-metal" effect, previously used in iTunes before version 5.0, in their stopwatch and screen lock features. (The founder of Pixo had worked on the Apple Newton, a personal digital assistant formerly produced by Apple.) The Pixo libraries provide the user interface, though the iPod photo has incorporated some visual elements from Mac OS X, such as the animated Aqua style progress bar. His team integrated the core firmware from PortalPlayer with the user interface library developed by Pixo. Jeff Robbin headed the iPod firmware team at Apple.

Apple has not yet released a Linux version of the software used to flash the firmware of the iPod. As of 2005 only gtkpod offers such functionality for Linux and other Unix variants; however in early 2006, AmaroK will have full support for most iPods. However, a special database file serves to list the songs available to play, so a program such as iTunes is required to upload songs. The iPod will also charge from any powered USB or Firewire port, regardless of software support.

The iPod uses standard USB and FireWire mass-storage connectivity, and therefore any system with mass-storage support can mount it and use it as an external hard drive. Running this interface on an iPod photo has been known to cause irreparable problems. The linux interface is known as "Podzilla". [8].

A SourceForge project exists for the project [7], and copious documentation appears online. It currently supports first through third generation iPods, and features simple installers for Mac OS X and Windows. The iPodLinux project has successfully ported an ARM version of the Linux kernel to run on iPods. The ability to use an iPod as a boot disk for a Macintosh computer was lost when Apple removed FireWire with the introduction of the fifth-generation iPod since none of the G5-based Macintosh models can boot from an external USB drive.

HFS+ leaves slightly more space available to store data, and it allowed the iPod to serve as a boot disk for a Macintosh computer. Currently, iPods ship with FAT32 by default and are reformatted for use with Macintosh computers, but they previously shipped formatted for Mac and would be reformatted for PC. An iPod with its hard drive formatted as HFS+ operated only with a Macintosh, because Windows does not support HFS+, but since the Macintosh could handle FAT32, an iPod formatted as FAT32 could operate with a Macintosh as well as with a PC. [5] Apple released a Windows version of iTunes on October 16, 2003 [6]; previously, Windows users needed third-party software such as Musicmatch Jukebox (included with Windows iPods before the release of the Windows version of iTunes), ephPod, or XPlay to manage the music on their iPods.

The original iPod interacted only with Macintosh computers running Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X until July 17, 2002, when Apple began selling a Windows-compatible iPod, with its internal hard drive formatted in FAT32 instead of the original HFS Plus. [4]. The signature earphones have such good recognition characteristics that they can become a liability – after a 24% rise in robbery and a 10% increase in grand larceny in the NYC subway system, a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department suggested that iPods might be behind the increases. This is often easily solved by applying a small amount of suction to the problem earphone.

They are also known to develop a clicking noise at volume peaks, due to the membrane being displaced. Users rate the substandard bass response as the most apparent negative characteristic found in the standard headphones. Like most headphones that come bundled with other hardware, the stock white earbuds are fairly low quality, and some users choose to replace them. Despite the fact that new generations of the iPod now appear in black as well as white, the cords still remain white.

The white cords have become symbolic of the iPod brand, and advertisements for the devices feature them prominently. All iPods come with earbud headphones with distinctive white cords, a color chosen to match the design of the original iPod. (The 60GB fifth-generation iPod holds 64 MiB of RAM, to further extend battery life.). For example, an iPod could spin the hard disk up once and copy about 30 MiB of upcoming songs on a playlist into RAM, thus saving power by not having the drive spin up for each song.

All iPods, except for the 60GB fifth-generation iPod, have 32 MiB of RAM, a portion of which holds the iPod OS loaded from the firmware and the vast majority of which serves to cache songs loaded from the hard drive. The iPod has a 32-MiB flash ROM chip which contains a bootloader, a program that tells the device to load the operating system from another medium (in this case, the hard drive). The iPod mini uses one-inch hard drives made by Hitachi. iPods use 1.8-in (46-mm) ATA hard drives (with a proprietary connector) made by Toshiba.

The first three generations of iPod used two ARM 7TDMI-derived CPUs running at 90 MHz, while later models have variable speed chips which run at a peak of 80 MHz to save battery life. The iPod shuffle has a built-in USB connector that plugs into a standard USB port for recharging and for data transfer, but a connector for AC charging can be purchased. Newer iPods, iPod minis and iPod nanos use a proprietary 30-pin dock connector to connect the iPod to a computer’s FireWire or USB port with a proprietary cable. First- and second-generation iPods had a standard FireWire connection port.

Both USB-based and FireWire-based power adapters exist. iPods can recharge their internal batteries using either FireWire (all generations) or USB power (only fourth generation and later) while connected to a computer or to an iPod AC power adapter. Apple stopped shipping FireWire cables with iPods in favor of only using Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0), more than likely a cost-cutting and size-saving measure since many Windows-based PCs do not have FireWire ports. Except for iPod shuffle, iPod nano, and fifth-generation iPod, all previous models of iPod offered FireWire connectivity.

The game, "Rock and Pop Trivia Quiz" from Coolgorilla takes the listener through 40 narrated questions on well known Rock & Pop artists. December 2005 saw the release of one the first iPod Game to make use of the iPod's ability to act as a "Sonic Gaming Platform". All iPods (except the shuffle) feature "Brick", a clone of the Breakout arcade game from Atari (originally created by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak) along with three other games:. iPods (with the exception of the iPod shuffle) also feature games.

However, iPod has limitations as a PDA, since users cannot edit this information on the iPod but only on a computer. It can also display notes, and hence host simple games and store restaurant information. [3]. Repeated calls to Apple from consumers have yielded no commitment to correct this problem as of January, 2006.

No workaround (including mentally converting times when reading them) is functionally acceptable due to the combined behaviours of iSync, iCal and the iPod with regards to converting events between timezones. Their timezones are excluded from the iPod's firmware, leaving them unable to properly sync calendar events and alarms to their devices. The limited PDA calendar functions of the iPod are somewhat tainted for users from Newfoundland and parts of Australia. However the files can be manually dragged and dropped into the correct directory on the iPod.

Although Mozilla Calendar and Mozilla SunbirdiCalendar file format used by iCal and the iPod, there is no way to automatically sync schedules across from these programs. With the 2005 release of iTunes 5.0, Apple integrated contact/schedule syncing into iTunes and added the ability for Windows users to synchronize their contacts and schedules from Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Since January 2003, Mac users have been able to synchronize their contacts and schedules Address Book and iCal to their iPods through iSync. In addition to playing music and storing files, the iPod has limited PDA functionality.

iTunes lacks the ability to transfer songs from iPod to computer because of legality issues. Apart from iTunes there are also several third-party applications available that can be used to transfer songs to the iPod. Users may also set a rating (out of 5 stars) on any song, and can synchronize that information to an iTunes music library. iTunes can automatically synchronize a user's iPod with specific playlists or with the entire contents of a music library each time an iPod connects to a host computer.

Apple designed the iPod to work with the iTunes media library software, which lets users manage the music libraries on their computers and on their iPods. Midis can also be played on iPods, but they first must be converted to the MP3 format by choosing the "advanced" menu on iTunes. Reviewers have criticized the iPod's inability to play some other formats, in particular the Ogg Vorbis and FLAC formats. WMA files with copy protection cannot be played in iTunes or be copied to an iPod.

The Windows version of iTunes can transcode non copy-protected WMA files to an iPod supported format. The fifth-generation iPod can also play .m4v (H.264) and .mp4 (MPEG-4) video file formats. iPods can play MP3, WAV, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, Audible audiobook and Apple Lossless audio file formats. 6,928,433: "Automatic hierarchical categorization of music by metadata", which Creative dubbed the "Zen Patent", granted on 9 August 2005).[2].

Patent No. Also in August 2005, Creative Technology, one of Apple's main rivals in the MP3 player market, announced that it too held a patent on part of the music selection interface used by the iPod (U.S. Apple's application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on "rotational user inputs", as used in the iPod's interface, received a third "non-final rejection" (NFR) in August 2005. In 2005, Apple Computer faced two lawsuits claiming patent infringement by the iPod and its associated technologies: Advanced Audio Devices claimed the iPod breached their patent on a "music jukebox" (See Hong Kong-based IP portfolio company Pat-rights filed suit on behalf of inventor Keung Tse Ho,) claiming that Apple's FairPlay technology breached their patent on "protection of software against unauthorized use".[1].

Apple has posited that the iPod has a "halo effect", encouraging users of non-Apple products to switch to other Apple products, such as to Macintosh computers. The iPod has sold at a tremendous rate, now past 42 million units since its release. As of October 2004, iPod dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard-drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. In 2003, Apple released third-generation iPods that included a single CD that included a Windows version of the iTunes software along with the Mac version.

The actual iPods could work with either system (though to work with Windows, they had to use the FAT32 filesystem, Mac iPods could use either the FAT32 or HFS Plus filesystem). The only difference though was the bundled software, since there was no iTunes for Windows at the time, the Windows iPods came packaged with Musicmatch software. In 2002, Apple released the second-generation iPod in two versions, one for Mac users and one for Windows users. Apple’s Hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design and build the first iPod in less than a year, and it was unveiled by CEO Steve Jobs on October 23, 2001 as a Mac-compatible product with a 5GB hard drive that put “1,000 songs in your pocket.”.

While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established markets, the company found digital music players lacking in quality and Apple decided to develop its own. Development of the iPod grew out of Apple’s digital hub strategy, as the company was creating software applications for the growing number of digital devices being snapped up by consumers. Recently, some media have started referring to the generation primarily born in the late 1980s, and which in particular has made the iPod popular, as the iGeneration, suggesting that the "i" family of products may have a far-reaching cultural impact. When Apple first introduced the iMac, the "i" stood for internet (as well as a possible tongue-in-cheek reference to Steve Jobs's title with the company at the time, interim CEO, abbreviated iCEO), meaning that the iMac shipped with everything needed for a connection, but the prefix stuck, as the brand recognition associated with it has positive effects on the sales of Apple products.

The company has many other products with a lowercase "i" in front of the name, including iSight, iChat, iTunes, iDVD, iBook, and much more. Apple's web site reflects this usage (for example, "iPod incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini"), which resembles Apple's use of the words Macintosh or iMac. Apple Computer often refers to the player as iPod, without use of the definite article the. .

The most recent incarnations of iPod and iTunes have video playing and organization features. iTunes is a music jukebox application that stores a comprehensive library of the user's music on his/her computer, as well as being able to play and rip music from a CD. The bundled software used for uploading music, photos, and videos to the iPod is called iTunes. The iPod is currently the world's best-selling digital audio player.

As of January 2006, the lineup consists of the fifth-generation iPod which can play videos, the iPod nano which has a color screen, and the iPod shuffle; all three iterations were released in 2005. Discontinued versions of the iPod include two generations of the popular iPod mini and four generations of the full-sized iPod, all of which had monochrome screens except for the fourth-generation iPod with color screen (previously sold as iPod photo before it replaced the monochrome iPod in the top line). Like most digital audio players, an iPod can serve as an external data storage device when connected to a computer. The standard iPod model stores media on a built-in hard drive, while the smaller iPod shuffle and iPod nano use flash memory.

Devices in the iPod family provide a simple user interface designed around a central scroll wheel (with the exception of the iPod shuffle). iPod is a brand of portable digital media player designed and marketed by Apple Computer. Accessed on October 13, 2005. Notes." MP3 Newswire.

"Apple Portable Does Video. ^  Richard Menta. Accessed on August 22, 2005. "Eminem settles with Apple over iPod commercial." c|net News.com.

^  Ina Fried. Accessed on August 22, 2005. "New iPod ads feature U2." Macworld. ^  Jim Dalrymple.

Accessed on August 22, 2005. "Pepsi ads wink at music downloading." USA Today. ^  Theresa Howard. The first iPod television ad.

^  Beat. Accessed on August 23, 2005. ^  "Hewlett-Packard to Stop Reselling iPods." Forbes. Accessed on January 18, 2006.

^  "Apple Reports First Quarter Results." Apple. Accessed on August 23, 2005. ^  "Apple Reports Third Quarter Results." Apple. Accessed on August 22, 2005.

"It's iPod's Revolution: We Just Live in It." Fortune. ^  Andy Serwer. Stan Ng — Director of iPod Product Marketing. Danika Cleary — iPod Product Manager.

Sanjeev Kumar. Jeff Robbin. Tony Fadell — Apple Vice President of iPod Engineering. Jonathan Ive — Apple Vice President of Industrial Design.

[57]. Apple announced on October 14, 2005 that Jon Rubinstein will retire on March 31, 2006 and be succeeded by Tony Fadell. Jon Rubinstein — Apple Senior Vice President of the iPod Division. Steve Jobs — CEO of Apple.

It featured Wynton Marsalis performing "Sparks". The ad is in blue and features many circular shapes in the background. On January 10, 2006, Apple premiered a new silhouette ad, based on the modified silhouette campaign (read above). [56].

The silhouette of Eminem also shows more highlights and shadows. Instead of a solid background, the background is a busy montage of different shapes and buildings in similar tones of orange. The other was a video of Eminem performing Lose Yourself in a modified version of the silhouette style. One featured a video of U2's Original of the Species playing on the new iPod's screen, held by a hand in the same style as the iPod nano adverts.

On October 12, 2005 Apple introduced two ads for the iPod fifth generation. They focused instead on the diminutive size of the product, with live-action shots of a hand holding an iPod nano on a black background, flipping it round and fiddling with it, to show how small and light it was. The TV adverts that accompanied the release of the iPod nano were the first for a long time not to incorporate the silhouette theme. The giveaway lasted for two months and included 100 million codes under the caps of Pepsi drinks, of which only 5 million were redeemed by its end.

In conjunction, Pepsi also launched ads featuring young teenagers who had been accused of unauthorized filesharing by the RIAA, who go on to say they will still download music for free thanks to the Pepsi iTunes Giveaway. Each bottle had a 1:3 chance of winning a free download. On February 1, 2004, during the Super Bowl, Pepsi and Apple kicked off their promotional deal to include a free iTunes download under the caps of Pepsi bottled soda. The iPod shuffle was released alongside TV commercials featuring silhouettes dancing on a green background with Apple's shuffle symbol moving underneath them, showing their intent on incorporating their silhouette campaign with each of their products.

^[55]. To commemorate the launch of the U2 iPod, Apple released an ad featuring the music video of Vertigo (changed to characteristic iPod silhouettes). These commercials featured popular songs, such as The Vines' Ride, The Caesars' Jerk it Out, Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc., Steriogram's Walkie-Talkie Man, Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Propellerheads' Take California, Ozomatli's Saturday Night, N.E.R.D.'s Rock Star (Jason Nevin's Mix), Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out, Daft Punk's Technologic, and many more. It featured silhouettes dancing to music while listening to iPods.

In October 2003, Apple released their first TV commercial of the silhouette campaign, which had already been featured for some time in print. The commercials featured a wide range of music, including The Who's My Generation, Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back, Pink's There You Go, and Eminem's Lose Yourself. The ads featured informally dressed persons wearing iPods and giving animated silent renditions of popular songs, accompanied by dancing, air guitar, and other performances. In April 2003, Apple introduced a new ad campaign in conjunction with the launch of the iTunes Music Store.

^[54]. The ad can be viewed on Apple's web site. The first iPod ad, featuring the tagline "A thousand songs, in your pocket" was launched alongside iPod in November 2001. [31] [32].

Honda will be the first to include text-to-speech capabilities that allow drivers to search for playlists, artist and album names or genre. More than thirty percent of the cars in the United States now include iPod support. With these deals Apple now has 15 car companies worldwide planning to offer iPod integration. Apple announced in September 2005 that they now have deals with Acura, Audi, Honda and Volkswagen to integrate iPod into their car stereos during the year.

[28] [29] [30]. Apple announced at Macworld Expo in January 2005 that Mercedes-Benz USA, Volvo, Nissan, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari would offer similar systems. The iPod attached to a cable harness in the car's glove compartment and allowed the driver to create up to five unique "BMW playlists" that were displayed through the vehicle's radio head unit. [27] The interface allowed drivers of late-model BMW vehicles to control their iPod through the built-in steering wheel controls and the radio head unit buttons.

BMW released the first iPod automobile interface to come from an automotive company. Volkswagen: 2006 Beetle. Volvo: S40, S60, S80, V50, V70, XC70, XC90. Scion: xA, xB, tC.

Mini: Cooper, Cooper S. Mercedes-Benz: C-Class, CLK, CLS, E-Class, SLK, M-Class, R-Class. BMW: Z4, X3, X5. Acura RL, TL using Acura Music Link (option only - installation and parts required).

iPod shuffle (512 MB and 1 GB). iPod nano (2 GB and 4 GB). iPod (30 GB and 60 GB). 'Center' (the button in the center of the scroll wheel; this selects a menu or a menu item).

'Next' (which skips forward through tracks in play). 'Previous' (which skips back through tracks in play). 'Play/Pause' (which plays or pauses the track in play). 'Menu' (which backs up one level in the menus).

A hole on the bottom of the case allows access to the dock connector port on the circuit board. Wires connect the ports and switch on the top of the case to a small plug. The rear of the iPod. The layer of rubber also helps to protect a spinning hard drive from shock damage while the owner of the iPod moves about.

The hard drive, surrounded by a layer of soft rubber which also extends beneath it to insulate it from the circuit board. The lithium ion battery. Note three connectors: the battery connects in the lower-right corner; the hard drive connector lies to the left of the black area in the lower left; and the headphone jack, wired remote control jack, and Hold switch (all located on the top of the iPod) connect as a single plug in the top right. The lighter green circuit board controls the iPod (and leaves room for the battery to fit beside it), and the darker green board beneath it controls the touch-scroll wheel and the buttons.

The front of the iPod casing (facedown). An intact third-generation iPod. This allows the user to read small text files. Notes: iPod also has the function to read EBooks through use of the Notes Function.

No record is kept of the score, and there is no limit on the amount of songs played; however, the songs repeat after the first 100. Music Quiz became available through a free firmware update for third generation iPods released in October 2003 and later came standard with the iPod mini and fourth generation iPods. The faster the users choose the right song, the more points they get. A song drops off the list every few seconds.

The game plays a portion of a random song and prompts the user to identify it from a list of 5 (or of 4 on the iPod mini). Music Quiz: an interactive music quiz featuring the user's own songs. Solitaire: a simple card game resembling the Klondike solitaire card game. Parachute is similar to the Apple II game Sabotage by Mark Allen.

Parachute: a game in which the user controls a turret and attempts to shoot down paratroopers and the helicopters which release them.