According to Ben Knauss, a former senior manager at PortalPlayer, "the iPod originated with a business idea dreamed up by Tony Fadell, an independent contractor and hardware expert who'd helped develop handheld devices at General Magic and Philips. 'Tony's idea was to take an MP3 player, build a Napster music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it,' Knauss said. 'Tony had the business idea,'" reports Wired.
But "while Fadell may have had the business plan, Apple CEO Steve Jobs molded the device's shape, feel and design."
