Editing Jeff Robbin (section)

== Career ==
While pursuing an MBA, Robbin joined Apple in 1992. There, he worked on [[Copland (operating system)|Copland]], Apple's troubled operating system project, alongside fellow software engineer [[Bill Kincaid]]. Robbin and Kincaid both left Apple in early 1997; Kincaid joined a startup, while Robbin went on to create several Mac utilities which were distributed by [[Casady & Greene]]. One of these utilities was [[Conflict Catcher]],{{Sfn|Levy|2006|pp=48-49}} a system extension for the [[classic Mac OS]] that could automatically detect and resolve conflicts between system extensions; these conflicts were one of the main causes of Mac OS system crashes.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Pogue |first=David |date=October 1994 |title=Conflict Catcher II 2.1.1 |magazine=[[Macworld]] |page=71}}</ref>

=== SoundJam MP ===
In 1999, Robbin joined Kincaid and Dave Heller to start a small company, SoundStep, and develop [[SoundJam MP]], a software [[jukebox]] that played [[MP3]] files.{{Sfn|Levy|2006|pp=48-49}}{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|p=383}} The idea for SoundJam came from Kincaid's desire to make the [[Rio PMP300|Rio]] MP3 player compatible with the Mac.{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|loc=|p=383}} Robbin chose Casady & Greene as SoundJam's software distributor.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Seff |first=Jonathan |date=April 30, 2001 |title=The Song Is Over for SoundJam |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/151570/11soundjam.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Macworld |language=en}}</ref> [[David Pogue]] wrote the user manuals for SoundJam and Conflict Catcher, before he joined the ''New York Times''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogue |first=David |date=2002-09-19 |title=Survival of Software's Fittest |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/19/technology/circuits/survival-of-softwares-fittest.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

SoundJam received positive reviews,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heid |first=Jim |date=October 31, 1999 |title=SoundJam MP |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/159570/soundjam.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Macworld |language=en}}</ref> and won the Best of Macworld award in 1999;<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 30, 1999 |title=Best of Show |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/159392/bestproducts-3.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Macworld |language=en}}</ref> it eventually secured 90% of the Mac MP3 software market.{{Sfn|Dormehl|2012|p=423}} SoundJam competed with the [[Audion (software)|Audion]] app, made by [[Panic Inc.|Panic]]. Both companies were vying to be acquired by Apple, but since Panic was already discussing a buyout with AOL, and since Robbin and Kincaid were ex-Apple employees, Apple chose to buy SoundJam in 2000.{{Sfn|Levy|2006|pp=51-52}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sasser |first=Cabel |title=The True Story of Audion |url=https://panic.com/extras/audionstory/ |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Panic}}</ref> Apple hired Robbin, Kincaid and Heller, and used SoundJam's code as the foundation for iTunes.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2003-07-03 |title=Casady & Greene Closes, Heralding End of an Era |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10571888256224500 |access-date=2022-10-29 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

=== iTunes and iPod ===
Shortly after the acquisition, Robbin was chosen by Steve Jobs to lead the iTunes development team, a position he still had a decade later.{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|loc=|p=383}} Jobs tasked Robbin with making the program easier to use to meet Apple's [[user experience]] goals; Robbin's team stripped the [[search box]] of its complex options, and adopted the brushed-metal look previously seen on [[iMovie]].{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|loc=|p=383}}{{Sfn|Kahney|2013|loc=chapter 8}} Less than four months later, in January 2001, iTunes was released for free as part of Apple's digital hub strategy,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Schlender |first=Brent |date=February 21, 2005 |title=How Big Can Apple Get? |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/02/21/8251769/index.htm |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=CNN Money}}</ref>{{Sfn|Robbins|Judge|2009|p=532}}{{Sfn|Kahney|2013|loc=chapter 8}} and was received with enthusiasm.{{Sfn|Chang|2011|loc="Within several months, Robbin presented the first iTunes program, and Jobs demonstrated iTunes to the public in 2001 at the MacWorld Trade Show. The response was amazing."}}[[File:Early iPod interface.png|thumb|upright=0.85|Robbin led the team that designed the iPod's user interface.]]
In 2001, Apple started work on the forthcoming [[iPod]], with [[Tony Fadell]] in charge of the iPod's hardware,<ref name="Patel">{{Cite web |last=Patel |first=Nilay |date=2022-05-03 |title=How big companies kill ideas — and how to fight back, with Tony Fadell |url=https://www.theverge.com/23053632/tony-fadell-build-decoder-apple-iphone-google-alphabet-steve-jobs |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}</ref> and Robbin's iTunes team responsible for the iPod's [[firmware]] and user interface, basing the firmware on software by [[Pixo]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Benj |date=October 22, 2011 |title=The iPod: How Apple's legendary portable music player came to be |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/214911/the-birth-of-the-ipod.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Macworld |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn|Levy|2006|p=63}}{{Sfn|Kahney|2013|p=175-193}} Robbin later told CNN that the process happened through "trial and error", with a continuous focus on simplification.<ref name=":0" /> Steve Jobs and Robbin were credited as inventors of the iPod's interface in a patent; the patent was initially denied due to [[prior art]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ecker |first=Clint |date=2005-08-10 |title=Apple can't patent iPod's user interface |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2005/08/922/ |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> but was later granted in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Apple Wins Major iPod User Interface & Systems Patents |url=https://www.patentlyapple.com/2012/05/apple-wins-major-ipod-user-interface-systems-patents.html |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=Patently Apple}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite patent|number=US7166791B2|title=Graphical user interface and methods of use thereof in a multimedia player|gdate=2007-01-23|invent1=Robbin|invent2=Jobs|invent3=Wasko|invent4=Christie|inventor1-first=Jeffrey L.|inventor2-first=Steve|inventor3-first=Timothy|inventor4-first=Greg|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US7166791B2/en}}</ref>

Jobs' 2011 biography names Robbin as one of the Apple executives who convinced Jobs to release iTunes on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]; the port was released in 2003.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Satariano |first=Adam |date=October 25, 2011 |title=Apple TV Project Is Said to Be Led By ITunes Creator Robbin |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-10-24/apple-effort-to-develop-tv-is-said-to-be-led-by-itunes-creator-jeff-robbin#xj4y7vzkg |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]]}}</ref>{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|p=405-406}} One of Robbin's design goals was to ensure the Mac and Windows versions would be perfectly equivalent.{{Sfn|Levy|2006|p=94}}

In 2004 and 2005, Apple collaborated with Motorola to create the [[Motorola ROKR#E1|ROKR E1]] (also known as the "iTunes phone"). As the iTunes lead, Robbin worked closely with his Motorola counterparts, but was frustrated with Motorola's lack of cooperation, according to Fadell in a later interview. The phone was not commercially successful upon release.<ref name="Patel" />

In an October 2005 article, ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]'' magazine's [[Lev Grossman]] said that Steve Jobs had invited him to meet Robbin, but had prohibited him from printing Robbin's last name, because Jobs was worried about competitors "poaching his talent".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grossman |first=Lev |date=2005-10-16 |title=How Apple Does It |language=en-US |work=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1118384-2,00.html |access-date=2022-10-29 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>{{Sfn|Isaacson|2011|p=383}} On September 9, 2009, Robbin was one of the presenters at a music-focused Apple keynote,<ref name="Dail090910">{{Cite news |last=Fost |first=Dan |date=2009-09-10 |title=Apple in polishing mode |page=A15 |newspaper=[[Daily Press (Virginia)|Daily Press]] |publisher=[[Tribune Media]] |location= |url= |access-date= |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> where he demoed the new features of iTunes 9, including [[iTunes LP]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Live from Apple's 'It's only rock and roll' event |url=https://www.engadget.com/2009-09-09-live-from-apples-its-only-rock-and-roll-event.html |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=Engadget |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Later projects ===
In 2011, ''[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]]'' reported that Robbin was in charge of Apple's effort to create a television set. Apple's plans to create a TV had been previously revealed in Steve Jobs's biography.<ref name=":2" /> The plans never came to fruition, and Apple abandoned the television project in 2014, after it was deemed to not be worth it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wakabayashi |first=Daisuke |date=May 18, 2015 |title=Behind Apple's Move to Shelve TV Plans |url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-apples-move-to-shelve-tv-plans-1431992617 |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2018, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that Jeff Robbin led the Apple Music product and engineering teams, having taken over after the music service's much-criticized 2015 launch.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steele |first=Tripp Mickle and Anne |title=Jimmy Iovine's Planned Exit From Apple Music Raises Leadership Questions |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/jimmy-iovines-planned-exit-from-apple-music-raises-leadership-questions-1521630001 |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref>

In March 2023, ''Bloomberg News'' reported that starting in April, Robbin will take charge of Apple's cloud services, including [[iCloud]], [[CloudKit]], and the infrastructure that hosts [[iMessage]] and [[FaceTime]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gurman |first=Mark |date=2023-03-03 |title=Apple’s Cloud Chief to Step Down, Adding to Wave of Departures |language=en |work=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-03/apple-s-cloud-chief-to-step-down-adding-to-wave-of-departures |access-date=2023-03-04}}</ref>