iPod nano (1st generation)
6.9mm thick, flash memory, a color screen, and a scratch-prone clear coat that ended in a class action and a settlement.
Released September 7, 2005 · Discontinued September 12, 2006 · From $199 (2 GB)
Apple discontinued the mini at the peak of its sales and replaced it with this. The nano was 6.9mm thick, used flash memory with no moving parts, had a color screen, and came in black or white with 2GB or 4GB. It looked like a product from several years into the future, and it cost $199. Then the screens started scratching. The clear coat over the display marked easily enough that a class action followed, and Apple settled and changed the coating. That is the nano's reputation problem and it was real. It is also one of the best pieces of industrial design Apple has ever shipped, and holding one still feels surprising twenty years later.
Reviews & Reception
Reviewers were taken with the size and the fact that it beat Apple's own battery and capacity claims. The scratching complaints arrived later, after the review cycle had finished and the class action had not.
It's not only beautiful and incredibly thin, but I found it exceeds Apple's performance claims.
All I can say is: It sure is small and it sure is cool.