iPod Leather Case
The iPod Leather Case for both the iPod (& first generation iPod nano) were unveiled by Steve Jobs on February 28, 2006 alongside the iPod HiFi & intel Mac mini.
In a brief, 40-minute presentation held at Apple’s Cupertino campus, a raspy-voiced Steve Jobs introduced the Intel Mac Mini, the iPod HiFi, and one of Apple’s earliest forays into the leather accessories market: the iPod Leather Case.
As described on Apple’s Website at the time:
“Hand-crafted from fine Italian leather with an extremely soft and durable lining, the iPod Leather Case offers a snug, secure fit. A gentle pull of the ribbon will gracefully expose your iPod when you are ready to use it again.”
The iPod Leather Cases were designed to fit the first-generation iPod nano & the 5th generation iPods, moulded to snuggly wrap around the device with black reinforced leather and an embossed Apple/iPod Logo. The iPod was inserted into the top of the case and protected by a soft, black microfibre lining. A ribbon extended out from the top of the case, and tugging on it smoothly slid the device out once inserted.
At the time they were released, the iPods were the biggest game in town - the iPhone was still over a year off at this point - and the iPod marketplace had no shortage of accessories to choose from. What strikes me as odd about this case is that Apple’s $99 price tag was far and above what most conventional iPod cases were selling for at the time, even taking into account any first-party premium. We all know about the Apple tax, I don’t think we had a reference point for what kind of tax should exist on leather goods from Apple.
The second oddity with this product is that there was no way to access the iPod controls to adjust volume, play/pause, or navigate through your music library; This was still over a year before the inline remote was introduced onto the earbuds. As a result, any change you needed to make necessitates removing the device fully from the case, making and adjustment, and firmly pressing it back in.
Since then, Apple has expanded its offering of leather goods across a broad range of its product lineup - from the Apple Watch to the MacBook Pro, down to the Apple Pencil. I hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the iPod Leather Case; I hope to cover more of these accessories in months to come.
External Link:
iLounge Review (with additional photos): Review: Apple Computer Leather Cases for iPod & iPod nano
