• The Apple Product of the Decade: iPod touch
• My First Apple Device
• The Starting Point of Exploring New Frontiers
• Conclusion

The Apple Product of the Decade: iPod touch

In the last two weeks, there was a surge of enthusiasm for selecting the "most important Apple product of the decade" in the global Apple community. Expectedly, products like the MacBook Air, iPad Air, and iPhone 4 were mentioned among the "A-listers" of Apple fans.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite the numerous participants and the wide range of products nominated, the iPod touch seemed to have been overlooked. This was not unexpected, as the iPod touch neither accounted for a significant chunk of Apple's revenue nor became a benchmark for other manufacturers to chase.

The iPod touch had been in a state of "hibernation" for most of the past decade, with its last "substantial" update being the fifth-generation model in 2012. Since then, it had only received incremental updates to its processor, camera, and storage, with no changes to its design or appearance. Additionally, its positioning on the Apple website, nested within the "Music" section, and its sales figures filed under the "Other" category in the financial reports, reflected the official's indifferent attitude towards the product.

The problem lies in the ambiguity of the term "most important Apple product of the decade." It does not define "for whom" the importance lies. If it was about "importance to Apple" or "importance to the industry," then the iPod touch would likely be left out. But what if the criteria were changed to "importance to oneself"? Which Apple product, in the past decade, introduced me to the brand, its values, and aesthetics? Which product shaped my subsequent usage habits? Which product was associated with significant experiences and memories?

Based on this criterion, the iPod touch, for me, was the "Apple product of the decade," even more significant than the iPhone that I carry in my pocket every day, the Mac that I work on nine to five (or six, eight, ten, twelve hours), the Apple Watch that accompanies me up the mountain (on the treadmill) and down to the sea (in the pool), and the iPad I am using to write this now.

My First Apple Device

The iPod touch holds a special place in my heart because it was my first encounter with an Apple device.

I first saw the iPod touch in 2010, during a free period in a sports class. A classmate pulled out a third-generation iPod touch from his pocket and proudly showed it to me. It was a sleek and compact device with a stunningly vibrant "giant screen" on the front. This scene, though as clichéd as many stories of how people got introduced to Apple products, was enough to create a powerful impression on me.

Owning my own iPod touch happened in 2011. Despite my lingering desire for a touch, I had been unable to afford it. I even bought a popular Android MP4 as a substitute, but the experience was night and day compared to the touch. Finally, during the winter vacation, I bought a budget (8GB) fourth-generation iPod touch with the money I had earned. I don't remember how I walked home with it, but using the word "delight" to describe my feelings at that time would be like using "mildly spicy" to describe a Chongqing hot pot.

Screenshots of iPod touch 4

In 2012, when the Apple's autumn launch event took place, most people's attention was focused on the "ugly" iPhone 5. But for me, hiding in my dormitory and using 80MB of data to scroll through the live updates on Weifeng.com, the iPhone 5 was not the star of the show. It was the iPod touch 5 that caught my attention. As the last time the iPod touch received a design update, it was a generous one. A dual-core processor, a widescreen like the iPhone, a 5-megapixel camera, and an anodized aluminum housing were all crammed into a 88-gram, 6.1-millimeter-thin device - two parameters that still make me cringe in awe, even today.

Screenshots of iPod touch 5

Looking back, the industrial design of the iPod touch was not perfect. It sacrificed a lot for thinness and uniqueness, like the back panel that could be scratched by a napkin and the battery life that was easily noticeable. The early iOS was not a perfect system, and many features that we now take for granted, like the notification center, app folders, and background multitasking, were once only available through jailbreak plugins. But despite these shortcomings, the iPod touch and iOS introduced me to Apple's design capabilities and attention to detail, serving as a far-reaching reference for my subsequent hardware and software choices.

The Starting Point of Exploring New Frontiers

But the iPod touch's significance to me goes beyond its mere arrival at an early stage in my digital life. It's more about the things I've done and the areas I've explored with it.

The iPod touch was a part of my违规 but enjoyable high school life. Its existence was a violation in itself - my parents didn't agree to buy it, and the school rules禁止 its use. But thanks to its compactness and lightness, I was able to smuggle it in many times without being caught in surprise inspections. (I'm still grateful for the brilliant design of暂停playback when the headphones are removed.)

To get the touch online, I used a cheap Huawei C8812 phone with a cheap night data plan, connected to the touch via Bluetooth PAN (a.k.a. Bluetooth double ring) to share the internet. Did it妨碍 my studies? I don't remember, but I do remember the joy of cheating on math homework with the function graphing app and the comfort of enjoying music and sunlight in the winter中午, locked in the dormitory balcony door.

Playlists from the iTunes era

The iPod touch was my (sole) player, game console, and camera. It was not the best in any of these areas - its audio quality was ordinary, with its only advantage being neutrality; it didn't have any hardcore games, and its poor heat dissipation and battery life were insufficient for intense gaming; the 70-megapixel camera on the fourth-generation model was basically a joke, and the fifth-generation upgrade was just barely passing the minimum requirements. But that didn't prevent me from finding fun in music, games, and photography.

I still pay for the情报税 to Apple Music today, even though it's difficult to use, because I don't want to give up the locally stored music with manually edited album information and covers in my iTunes library. The time I wasted playing Fruit Ninja, Tiny Wings, and Doodle Jump on the iPod touch, was far more than the time I spent playing "big games" on the Switch in the past two years.

When I scroll to the beginning of my iCloud album, those photos taken with the iPod's camera, which are模糊 and old-fashioned, still bring back memories of the scenes they captured.

The first few photos in my iCloud album were taken with the iPod touch 5's camera

The process of tinkering with the iPod touch also opened up many new areas of interest for me. To jailbreak, I was forced to leave the comfort zone of Windows and learn a lot of POSIX-style system paths, which laid the foundation for my later switch to OS X. To improve the reading experience of e-books, I came across the concept of beautifully formatted e-books led by "Tangcha" (the website is no longer available, the link is for the archived version), which led me to a systematic study of font layout and graphic design. To manage my schoolwork and offset my guilt for "playing while neglecting studies," I came across various task management and information management tools, which gave me an initial concept of the GTD method.

Helping classmates jailbreak was once a major part of my weekend routine

In addition, automation, later reading, and RSS, which I have been using, can all be traced back to the apps I played with on the touch. The early versions of VSCO, Reeder, and Documents by Readdle, which I have been using, are still my top choices in their respective categories.

Early apps and games

Granted, these influences were not directly related to the iPod touch. If the touch had not had some limitations, my tinkering process might have been more enjoyable. Besides, the actual time the three iPod touches陪伴me was quite limited. The borrowed third-generation model was returned to its owner after a month. The fourth-generation model, which I bought with my own money, was sold to a street vendor for 60% of its original price after six months due to my fear of being questioned by my parents about the source of the money. The fifth-generation model, which I purchased on its release, lasted until my graduation in 2014, but was only used secretly at night and on weekends (which is why it is still in 99% condition after two years).

If the early versions of iOS had screen time statistics, the total usage time of these three devices over the span of five years was probably less than the usage time of a single iPhone in just one year.

Photographed before selling the iPod touch 5

But as I mentioned earlier, objective criteria like sales figures or product life cycle cannot determine a product's importance. What matters is the subjective experience of the user - "me." If I had not encountered the iPod touch early in my life and if I had not been surrounded by its ecosystem, resources, and community, I might not have developed interests in the topics mentioned above, nor would I have further explored the knowledge and people related to those topics.

The iPod touch did not accompany me through the past decade, but it opened the door and paved the way for my learning, exploration, and "tinkering" during that decade. In this sense, it was my "most important Apple product of the decade," without exception.

Conclusion

I'm not claiming that my "评选" is more valid than others. As with any listicle, the challenge in selecting the "most important Apple product of the decade" lies in how the author can justify their authority. To do this, some might turn to objective metrics like sales figures or product specifications, hoping to support their conclusions.

But this is the wrong approach. Technology products are ultimately for users, and nothing is more authoritative than the subjective experience of the user.

Instead of the media's "this is the most important Apple product of the past decade because it achieved/sold/made Apple/made the industry...," I would like to see more stories like "this is the most important Apple product of the past decade for me because I used it..." even if they are as mundane and clichéd as my experience with the iPod touch.

The history of technology in the past decade has been dominated by numbers and sales figures. Let's welcome the new decade with more self-centered perspectives.