The Diffusion Theory through the Lens of the IPod

    The Diffusion of Innovations Theory describes the pattern of ideas, practices or products that spread throughout the population. This consists of early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. For the IPod, the early adopters start with the innovators. It got its start in 1979 when a British inventor named Kane Kramer created the first digital audio player. It was called the IXI which was able to play only one song. His prototype was unsuccessful and didn’t make it to the market but it was a good try. Then, in the mid 1990s, MP3 players were introduced and became very popular. However, it had a lot of problems. That’s when Apple created the first IPod when Steve Jobs thought of an alternative to the MP3 player.

    The early majority to this device started in 2001, which was the development of the first IPod that spread quickly to younger generations as it was seen as trendy and cool. Many people were young and had families with young children, middle to upper class, and had a love for music. This quickly caught on and spread throughout the United States as advertisements said the IPod could hold “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The small white headphones became an iconic trademark of Apple that created very persuasive advertising campaigns. In 2008, sales peaked with 54.8 million units sold.

    The late majority was the people who were older and didn’t catch on to the trend until 20 years after. As people moved away from MP3 players and CD’s, the use of IPod increased. The laggards were people who never ended up buying an IPod device, however, end up buying an Apple device like the IPod touch or the IPhone. Some people didn’t adopt the IPod due to the cost or the quickly evolving device. IPod sales began to decline in 2008, while the iPhone's growth was massive. At the time, Apple was still releasing new models of the iPod. But it would soon abandon its own product and become less popular. The IPod led to a new communication technology known as the IPhone which created a positive impact that would discontinue single-purpose devices.