Inside iPod
Apple doesn't want to spill the secret sauce, but we tear down its mega-seller music machine.
John H. Day
ED Online ID #9500
January 20, 2005
It was an unusual strategy for a design engineer, but it was appropriate for the job. Elaine Wherry, manager of usability and design at Synaptics Inc., put on her hooded sweatshirt so she would blend in at college campuses. Her mission was to understand user requirements for a digital music player.
On campus, she observed people jog, ride bikes, walk, sit quietly, and in myriad other ways, enjoy their tunes. She made similar observations in libraries, airports, and other venues where individuals carry music to speed up, slow down, or blend with the pace of their lives. She carried a player herself, but she avoided the urge to tweak an interface according to her own preferences.
Apple Computer's market-redefining iPod and iPod mini benefit from Synaptics' user interface design and capacitive sensor technology. Synaptics didn't create the original iPod interface, which was done by Apple employees with the help of independent designer Tony Fadell and others who may never receive due credit for the iPod's success. But part of Synaptics' contribution was to understand that less is more; that users want to get their music into the player quickly and easily, navigate smoothly from one song to another, and hear their music faithfully reproduced.
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In the summer of 2002, Apple began to flesh out its second-generation iPod line, which differed only slightly from the first generation. The company introduced a 5-Gbyte iPod for $299; a 10-Gbyte unit, estimated to be some 10% thinner than its predecessors, for $399; and a 20-Gbyte (4000-song) model for $499. Thus, for the same price, Apple offered twice the capacity of the version launched just four months earlier.
The 10- and 20-Gbyte iPods were fitted with a solid-state touch wheel, Synaptics' interface, in place of the mechanical wheel. This eliminated a potential source of failure while also enabling a thinner device. Apple touted the solid-state touch wheel as an industry first. Synaptics' capacitive sensing technology consists of an array of conductive metal electrodes covered by an insulating layer that protects the electrodes from wear. Analog circuitry measures the changes in capacitance that occur as a user's finger moves around the wheel's surface, pinpointing the finger's location at any given moment with accuracy in excess of 1/1000th of an inch (Fig. 1).
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In first- and second-generation iPods, the navigation wheel assembly used contactless construction, with a ball-bearing axle and optical "chopper" for smooth menu selections. Synaptics' touch-scroll technology required a separate board for the touchplate and supporting electronics. The board, which also connects the monochrome LCD and backlight, includes a Synaptics ASIC and a sawtooth electrode pattern.
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elecdesign.com
Lots more about the iPod and its various permutations. - Herb |
