It’s absolutely fascinating to watch Steve Jobs deliver the 2001 keynote speech introducing the iPod for the first time.

In structure it’s the same as the modern-day keynotes (and yes, we have to contrast 2001 with “modern day”) but the audience is smaller and more subdued, and even Jobs’ own enthusiasm is lower.  He’s reviewing a marketing analysis for shareholders, not announcing a new product to the world.

You can almost tell that even Apple itself had no idea how far the iPod would really take them.