What's Old is New Again

Posted on September 28, 2005

The BBC has an interesting article about a comparison between the design of the 1954 Regency TR-1 transistor radio and today's iPod Mini. The likeness was discovered by John Ousby who posted a comparison on Flickr. The BBC article and this Arts Technica post contain the image Ousby posted.

Hi-tech, trendy colours, rock music, punchy slogans... remind anyone of anything? When technology watcher John Ousby realised the modern day parallels, he knew he had to do something. Ousby told the BBC that thousands of people looked at his Flickr post.
"I did a bit of digging around," he says, "and found a good website on vintage electronics. I then matched photos of the transistor with photos of the iPod Mini."
He then posted the above picture on the photo-sharing website Flickr. "Normally my photos there are viewed less than 100 times. But I was away for couple of days and came back to see there had been more than 15,000," he says.
The similarity between the two has "created quite a stir", he says, particularly in the Mac community. He is, however, at pains to point out that he believes the similarity between the 50s radio and the iPod mini is purely coincidental.

The BBC article also notes the often made comparison between Apple's iMac design and the design of some desk lamps.