After 21 Years and Millions of Fans, Apple to Discontinue the iPod

Apple has recently announced that the brand will discontinue its music player, the iPod Touch. With that, an end will come to a device that was launched 21 years ago, was credited with revolutionizing the way music was listened to, and had millions of lovers.



The iPod was first launched in 2001 and, at that time, had the ability to store 1,000 songs. Now, the Apple streaming service has over 90 million songs and has made the iPod obsolete. Interestingly, the iPod Touch was designed by the same team that invented the iPhone. The latter quickly overshadowed the former.

The last time Apple updated the iPod was in 2019. Apple has launched many iPod models over the years, like Nano, Mini, and Shuffle, and they all have been already discontinued. iPod Touch, which was released in 2007, will be the last model to be discontinued. The company said that the product would be available until stocks last.

The History

The first iPod was released in 2001, and it was the first-ever MP3 player capable of playing 1,000 songs at that time. It gained popularity quickly, and by 2011, Apple held a 70% global market share in MP3 players. To date, over 400 million iPods have been sold.

The key reason for the discontinuation of iPods is simple. Mobiles and online music streaming have replaced them.



The Statement

While sharing the decision to discontinue, the senior vice-president of worldwide marketing at Apple, Greg Joswiak, said the "spirit of iPod lives on." He stated, "Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impact more than just the music industry – it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared."

The Anticipation

When the iPod was launched, there was a lot of anticipation. The product was revealed by Apple boss Steve Jobs in typical Apple style in 2001 while wearing his trademark jeans and black turtleneck. At that time. Jobs had said, "Music's a part of everyone's life. Music's been around forever. It will always be around."

The headline for the night was also simple- "1,000 songs in your pocket."



The Support

With time, many celebs have added their star power behind the iPod. U2, John Mater, and Oprah Winfrey are some of the names you might recognize. Even BMW introduced the first car entertainment system with a built-in iPod system. Many other car manufacturers followed that trend shortly.

The Inevitable

Tech experts always believed that the replacement of the iPod with the iPhone was inevitable. The chief analyst at technology advisory firm CCS Insight, Ben Wood, stated: "When Apple created the iPhone it knew that it would ultimately mean the beginning of the end of the iPod."

Carolina Milanesi from Creative Strategies also stated that the decline in iPod sales was connected to the rise of iPhone sales. She said, "The demise of the iPod is probably the best example of Apple not being concerned about cannibalizing its own products."

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61401626

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/10/the-spirit-lives-on-apple-to-discontinue-the-ipod-after-21-years

https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/620324/BUSINESS/Apple-to-discontinue-the-iPod-after-21-years

 

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