Apple finally admitted that a British man who dropped out of school at the age of fifteen was the real inventor of the iPod. Kahn Kramer, 52, invented the technology that drives the iPod music player 30 years ago but has yet to receive a penny from his invention. The father-of-three had to sell his house last year and move into a rental after winding up his faltering furniture business. Now, Apple has produced documents in court indicating that the American company has recognized him as the father of the iPod. (Apple) The computer giant even flew Cramer to its headquarters in California to testify in a legal dispute with a company called Burst.com. Burst.com claims that it owns the patent for iPod technology and deserves a share of Apple's $89 billion in profits. Two years ago, Kramer told the press how he invented and built the iPod in 1979, when he was just 23 years old. His invention, called IXI, can only store 3.5 minutes of music on the chip, but Kramer is convinced its capabilities can be greatly improved. His design sketches from the time showed a credit card-sized player with a rectangular display and center controls that could be turned to select tracks, all very similar to today's iPods. He filed for a worldwide patent and founded a company to develop the idea. But after the board split in 1988, he was unable to pay the ￡60,000 required to renew the patent in 120 countries, and the technology became public property. In a legal dispute with Burst.com last September, Apple used Cramer's patents and design sketches to defend itself, and the evidence he presented was fiercely attacked by Burst.com's legal team. Cramer, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, said: "I was on a ladder painting and I got a call from a woman with an American accent who said she was a legal affairs representative from Apple and they wanted to acknowledge what I had done. work. “I have to admit, at first I thought it was just a joke among friends. It took me and her a while to figure it out, during which I had been painting the ladder. She said that Apple wanted me to go to California to have a good talk with them. "So I had to testify in front of the court clerk and cameraman in the attorney's office, and the Burst.com defense attorney's questions were really unpleasant, for ten hours." But I'm happy to do it. Ultimately, the dispute between Apple and Burst.com reached an out-of-court settlement. Kramer said: "Frankly, I'm very happy that what I did changed the entire music industry and achieved such great success. The technology was finally recognized. I'm really excited about this! Now he is negotiating with Apple to get some of the compensation he deserves for the copyrights to those designs. But so far he has only received a consulting fee for testifying in the case. Since 2001, Apple Since the launch of the iPod, an astonishing 163 million units have been sold, with 100 units being snapped up around the world every minute. This alone earned Apple 5.5 billion pounds during last Christmas. On the contrary, Kramer had to close his struggling furniture design business last year and move with his wife Lorraine and three children including 9-year-old Judy, 14-year-old Louise, and 16-year-old Lauren. Inside the rented house. “I couldn’t even afford an iPod,” he said. “Apple gave me one, but it broke eight months later. Cramer, who is now organizing the British Invention Show, is currently working on a patented invention that he claims will be even greater than the iPod. The invention, called the "Monicall," will allow people to record phone conversations, and sent as an audio file to multiple parties. "This will speed up business transactions and provide a low-cost third-party evidence of conversations and agreements," he said. “The transaction will be completed over the phone and an audio file will be sent via email within 30 seconds. ”