Apple discontinues iPod touch after 20 years, ending music player's legacy

By Team Newsable | First Published May 11, 2022, 10:53 AM IST

As Apple introduced music streaming features to its other devices and faced outside competition such as streaming platform Spotify and Amazon Music, the iPod progressively became outdated. Apple's blog post announcing the iPod's retirement contained price information for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad, implying that those platforms have supplanted the music player.

Apple announced that it would no longer sell the iPod Touch, bringing an end to a two-decade run for the music player that was once a mainstay of the company's product selection. The technology behemoth said it will continue to sell iPod Touch devices in its own shops and through authorised resellers "while supplies last," but it would not build more or release new models.

As Apple introduced music streaming features to its other devices and faced outside competition such as streaming platform Spotify and Amazon Music, the iPod progressively became outdated.

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"Today, the spirit of the iPod lives on," said Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Greg Joswiak. "We've built a fantastic music experience into all of our devices, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to the HomePod mini, as well as Mac, iPad, and Apple TV," he continued.

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Apple's blog post announcing the iPod's retirement contained price information for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad, implying that those platforms have supplanted the music player.

When Steve Jobs originally unveiled the iPod on stage at a business event in 2001, he referred to it as a "transformational creation." The first version had a capacity of 1,000 songs.

According to TechCrunch, Jobs remarked at the time, "With iPod, Apple has built a whole new category of digital music player that allows you store your whole music library in your pocket and listen to it everywhere you go. Music listening will never be the same again with iPod."

While the original iPod became recognised as the "classic" model, Apple later introduced various updates to the series, including the smaller Nano and Shuffle. The Touch's most recent and last new edition was published in 2019.

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The iPod, once a best-seller, has become a minor source of cash for Apple in recent years. According to Reuters, the tech giant has not revealed sales numbers for the gadget since 2015. Prior to that year, unit sales were already declining, falling 24 percent in Apple's 2014 fiscal year compared to the previous year.

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