End of an era: Apple pulls plug on its groundbreaking iPod device

Apple launched dozens of iPod variations through the years, however the product was step by step eclipsed by its different units, particularly the iPhone.

Launched by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the iPod was credited with serving to to show Apple from an almost bankrupt firm to an eventual $3 trillion tech large [File: Dino Vournas/Reuters]

Apple Inc’s iPod, a groundbreaking gadget that upended the music and electronics industries greater than 20 years in the past, is not any extra.

The corporate introduced Tuesday that it could discontinue the iPod Contact, the final remnant of a product line that first went on sale in October 2001. The touch-screen mannequin, which launched in 2007, will stay on sale till provides run out.

Apple launched dozens of variations of the iPod through the years, however the product was step by step eclipsed by its different units, particularly the iPhone. That led the corporate to start phasing out fashions in 2014. On the time, the corporate stopped making the iPod basic, a model with a click on wheel and small display screen that was most just like the unique model. In 2017, Apple stopped making its smallest music gamers, the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle.

The iPod Contact — widespread as a less expensive different to the iPhone — held on a couple of extra years. The gadget was final up to date in 2019 and price $199. Evaluate that with the most cost effective iPhone in Apple’s portfolio: the SE, which prices $429.

However with so many different methods to get music, Apple now not sees the product as crucial.

“We’ve built-in an unbelievable music expertise throughout all of our merchandise, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and throughout Mac, iPad and Apple TV,” mentioned Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice chairman of worldwide advertising and marketing.

Launched by Steve Jobs, the iPod was credited with serving to to show Apple from an almost bankrupt firm to an eventual $3 trillion behemoth. The iPod set the stage for the event of the iPhone, iPad and AirPods — merchandise that now make up most of Apple’s income.