Which movie inspired the ‘Pod’ portion of the word iPod?

The iPod is a line of portable media players and multi-purpose pocket computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., and first released in 2001. Today, the word iPod, and the device itself, are such a mainstay of modern culture that it’s easy to forget that iPod is a rather odd term to simply pull out of thin air. So, where did the name come from?

In keeping with Apple’s forward-thinking and artistic character, the “Pod” in iPod was inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s forward-thinking film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968).

The name was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (among others) was called in by Apple to figure out how to introduce their new player to the public. When Chieco saw a prototype, he thought of the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and the phrase "Open the pod bay doors, Hal", which referred to the white EVA (Extravehicular Activity) shuttle pods of the spaceship in the movie.

The shuttles in Kubrick’s film were called “pods”, and they actually looked a lot like Apple’s new music player. Chieco also noted an additional similarity: the relationship between the spaceship and its smaller shuttle pods, was comparable to the relationship between a personal computer and the music player.

He reasoned that the music player was to be an extension of the computer’s wider digital hub, much like a shuttle docking at a spaceship. Apple loved the concept, and the rest is history.

Not surprisingly, the ‘i’ refers to the internet.