Hewlett-Packard iPod debuts | Today in Apple history

January 8, 2004: The awkwardly named iPod+HP, a Hewlett-Packard-branded iPod, will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The prototype device unveiled by Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is blue, a color used in HP’s branding. However, by the time it hits the market later that year, the digital music player will be the same shade of white as the regular iPod. The device doesn’t last long either.

Apple iPod+HP = useless collaboration

On paper, the collaboration between Hewlett-Packard and Apple seemed unexpected. However, there was a shared history between the two companies. Apple co-founder as a child Steve Jobs found HP co-founder Bill Hewlett in the phone book. He ended up getting a summer job at the company. HP also hired Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak while he was working on Apple-1 And Apple II computers.

Over the years, Apple has also hired several high-end talent from HP. And HP had a campus in Cupertino until 2010, when it sold land to Apple for construction of Apple Park.

Despite these connections, iPod+HP never looked like a meaningful collaboration between the two companies.

Jobs generally hated licensing Apple technology, which explains why he never sought to port Mac OS to other systems. (He only reluctantly did this with Operating system NeXTSTEP to NeXT.) Jobs immediately canceled licensed “Mac clones” when he returned to Apple in the late 1990s.

iPod+HP marked the only time Jobs licensed the official iPod name to another company, although he did license iTunes to Motorola to create the iPod+HP. first (sort of) Apple phone (by the way, another disaster).

Steve Jobs’ Smart Strategy

By 2004, Jobs had abandoned his hard-line stance that iTunes Music Store should never be available on non-Mac computers. (Service expanded to Windows PC in late 2003.) However, HP stands out as the only Windows manufacturer to ever release its own variant of the iPod.

As part of the deal, iTunes came pre-installed on all HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario computers. In theory, this was a win-win for both companies. HP gained a unique advantage, and Apple was able to further expand its iTunes market. This allowed iTunes to have a presence in places like Walmart and RadioShack, where Apple did not sell its computers.

In fact, the HP iPod deal may have been some clever corporate jujitsu on Apple’s part. In 2015 Middle post titled “How Steve Jobs robbed Carly FiorinaJournalist Steven Levy suggested that the move was a strategic move aimed at preventing HP from installing Windows Media Store on the company’s computers. Although HP did receive an HP-branded iPod, Apple updated its own iPod shortly thereafter, thereby rendering the HP version obsolete. Levi writes:

In short, Fiorina’s “good friend” Steve Jobs blithely ripped off her and HP shareholders. By persuading Fiorina to use the iPod as HP’s music player, Jobs installed his software essentially for free on millions of computers, suppressed his main competitor, and forced a company that prided itself on its inventions to declare Apple the best inventor. And he didn’t lose anything, except for the few minutes it took him to call Carly Fiorina and tell her he was sorry she got fired.

Disconnecting iPod from HP

Ultimately, the deal did not produce the sales numbers HP had hoped for. On July 29, 2005, Hewlett-Packard terminated the iPod deal, although the company remained contractually obligated to install iTunes on its computers until January 2006. Eventually, HP released its own Compaq audio player, which failed to make a splash.

Do you remember iPod+HP? Was your first experience with iTunes through an HP computer? Let us know in the comments below.