Earlier this week, Apple announced that it will be discontinuing its iPod touch, the last available iPod model. The product will continue to be available through Apple retailers while supplies last.
A portable music pioneer
The iPod has been viewed as a pioneer of the modern-day smartphone, paving the way for Apple’s current success. “While the iPod lives on no more, its legacy lives on. You can draw plenty of lines from the iPod lineup to what Apple’s doing successfully today,” reported The Verge.
History of the iPod
Apple released its first iPod 20 years ago. The first model of the device hit the market in 2001, with 5GB of storage — up to 1,000 songs — for the price of $399. The iPod changed the world of portable music, offering a functional and modern alternative to the MP3 players that came before the device, according to PCMag.
The iPod shuffle was released in 2005. It was the smallest of Apple’s music devices and didn’t come with a screen. Apple continued to release different versions of the iPod over the years, such as the nano, until it eventually released the iPod touch in 2007.
“The iPhone’s release in 2007 changed everything. It allowed people to make calls, listen to music and more, all from one device,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
iPod sales peaked at $9.2 billion in 2008, shortly after the release of the iPhone. By 2014 Apple had stopped reporting iPod sales as its own category, with sales having dropped to $2.3 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
‘The spirit of the iPod lives on’
Tech analysts say the discontinuation of the iPod was inevitable, according to BBC. But between the iPhone and all of the other Apple products, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, says, “The spirit of the iPod lives on,” according to CNBC.
“We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad and Apple TV,” Joswiak said, per Al Jazeera.
The latest version of the iPod was released in 2019, and has been sold out on the Apple Website, according to 9to5 Mac. Other versions of the iPod can still be found on Ebay and through other online retailers.