AAPL Company

Tim Cook explores rare iPod, iPhone prototypes in new interview [Video]

Chance Miller | Apr 1 2026 - 11:43 am PT

Apple’s 50th anniversary celebration continues, this time with a fascinating new video from The Wall Street Journal.

In the video, WSJ columnist Ben Cohen to takes a walk down memory lane alongside Tim Cook, including rare Apple prototypes and other archival material that even Cook himself had never seen before.

“A lot of this I’ve seen for the first time in preparing for the 50th anniversary,” Cook said.

Throughout the video, we’re given a look at a patent for the Apple II, early prototypes of the iPod and iPhone, the Apple Watch, and more.

Here’s Cook on the state of Apple’s supply chain on the launch of the iPod:

“I loved it because all of a sudden you could have a thousand songs in your pocket. And I thought that was really big at the time, because I remember then being in the car and I thought it was really cool to have a CD changer that had five CDs in it. Because otherwise you’d listen to the same music all the time … but to have a thousand songs, this was revolutionary at the time.

The supply chain at the time was something we had not done. Initially there was a modest volume, but as you step out into the 2000s, all of a sudden you’re talking about 14, 15 million in three months. And so to do that, you’ve got to run with precision and quality, and you can’t afford a misstep.

The first song Tim Cook listened to on his iPod? Hey Jude by The Beatles.

You can watch the full video below. I really enjoyed it as a fun spin on the normal Tim Cook interview style.