iPod is a popular brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on October 23,2001. As of 2008, the current line-up includes the iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video capable Ipod Nano, the screenless iPod Shuffle and the iPhone. As of March 2008, there has been over 150 million units sold and the numbers are still increasing rapidly.
As with many other digital music players, iPods, excluding the iPod Touch, can also serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model.
The name iPod was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (with others) was called by Apple to figure out how to introduce the new player to the public. After Chieco saw a prototype, he thought of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the phrase "Open the pod bay door, Hal!", which refers to the white Eva Pods of the Discovery One spaceship. Apple researched the trademark and found that it was already in use. Joseph N. Grasso of New Jershey had originally listed an "iPod" trademark with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office in July 2000 for Internet kiosks. The first iPod kiosks had been demonstrated to the public in New Jersey in March 1998, and commercial use began in January 2000, but had apparently been discontinued by 2001. The trademark was registered by the USPTO in November 2003, and Grasso assigned it to Apple Computer, Inc. in 2005.
