iPod Touch and Click Wheel

Pioneering iPod's Click Wheel

One of the main reasons for the success of the first generation of iPod's was the Scroll Wheel.The iPod's scroll wheel has been through three iterations. The first one rotated, then there was the touch-sensitive one and finally there's the clickable one found on the iPod Mini and fourth-generation iPod.

The original scroll wheel was designed by Apple and physically rotated. It was not touch sensitive but some people still prefer this one because they like the feeling of the control moving with their finger. When Apple looked to improve on this they contacted Synaptics, which primarily makes touchpads for laptops, who actually perfected this little piece of navigational heaven, in accordance with Apple's stringent design requirements. If have already heard the name Synaptics and your wondering where then your probably thinking of the little pad thats on your laptop. 80% of laptops have Synaptics mouse / finger pads (also known as the Synaptics Pointing Device).

Synaptics already had some history with Apple having worked with Apple on its iBook series of Laptops. So when Apple was looking for a way to make the iPod thinner and lighter, it elected to try out a touch-sensitive design from Synaptics. Aside from creating a more pocket-friendly iPod, the new design also prevented any potential grime from gumming up the scroll wheel's inner workings.

iPod Touch Wheel

The Touch Wheel proved very popular with consumers.

Apple knew the touch-sensitive scroll wheel was an improvement over the original design but decided to move the playback control buttons from around the scroll wheel to just above it. The Synaptics scroll wheel itself had four touch-sensitive buttons but some people complained that the buttons didn't always work. This was probably due to those not feeling or hearing a click, the brain needs to know the finger has pushed something!

iPod Click Wheel

The Click Wheel Arrives

When Apple designed the iPod Mini they didnt have enough room for the buttons above the scroll wheel. The solution was to make the scroll wheel clickable thus performing two functions: It allows for song-scrolling and it provides playback control while at the same time giving the important feedback to the finger. This new version worked so well that Apple decided to build it into the full-size, fourth-generation iPod, doing away with buttons altogether.