Apple stops production of ipods.
Apple announced on Tuesday that it will no longer produce iPods, the groundbreaking MP3 players that revolutionised music consumption and gave rise to the iPhone.
With his legendary showmanship flair, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the devices nearly 21 years ago, and the small, easy-to-use players helped the company revolutionise how music was sold.
It contained “a mind-blowing 1,000 songs”, according to the company, and established a new distribution model for the music industry alongside Apple’s iTunes store.
Purchasing entire albums on vinyl gave way to paying 99 cents per song for selected digital songs.
Industry analysts and California-based firms Apple have long acknowledged that the all-in-one iPhone would eat into sales of one-trick devices like iPod MP3 players.
The trend toward streaming music services, including one from Apple, has made devices designed solely for transporting digital music less appealing to consumers.
In a blog post, Apple stated that the current generation of iPods will only be available for as long as current supplies last.
“Music has always been at the heart of our company, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way that iPod did impacted more than just the music industry,” said Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak.
“It also changed the way people discover, listen to, and share music.”
According to Joswiak, the “spirit of the iPod” lives on in Apple’s product lineup, which includes the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and its HomePod smart speaker.
“IPod has captivated users all over the world who love the ability to take their music with them on the go since its introduction over 20 years ago,” Apple said in a blog post.
“Today, the experience of taking one’s music library out into the world is built into every Apple product, from the iPhone and Apple Watch to the iPad and Mac.”
Furthermore, the Apple Music subscription service provides streaming access to more than 90 million songs, according to the Silicon Valley behemoth.
Despite analysts’ fears that the release of the iPhone in 2007 would destroy demand, the iPod survived because the smartphones offered much more than just digital music.
The end of the iPod line prompted a flood of sad, nostalgic tweets on Twitter.
“Damn… low-key a little sad to see that Apple has officially discontinued the iPod as of today,” said a tweet sent from a UK Gaming YouTuber’s verified @MrDalekJD account.
“This thing forever changed the music game. RIP.”
