Apple has announced that it will be discontinuing its original music player, the iPod touch. The company says it will remain available “while supplies last”.
It was last updated in 2019.
The legendary MP3 player was launched in 2001 and could store 1,000 tracks. Today, more than 90 million songs are available via Apple’s streaming service, Apple Music.
It was designed by Tony Fadell, who later invented the iPhone.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said the gadget has “redefined how music is discovered, heard and shared.”
Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, told the BBC it was always inevitable that the iPhone would one day replace the iPod.
“When Apple created the iPhone, they knew it would eventually spell the beginning of the end for the iPod,” he said.
“It’s really amazing that it’s only 15 years since the iPod has reached the end of its road.”
Creative Strategies’ Carolina Milanesi agreed that the drop in iPod sales is related to the rise in iPhone sales — as is the shift from digital downloads to streaming.
“The demise of the iPod is probably the best example of Apple not caring about cannibalizing its own products,” she said.
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