MP3 player
The end of an era: Apple discontinues the last iPod
The classic iPod was phased out years ago
© Gero Breloer/Picture Alliance / Picture Alliance
Apple’s rise to become the most valuable company in the world began with the iPod. Now the group has finished production of the last model.
It was a hype that had never been seen before for a music player. When Apple brought the first iPod onto the market in 2001, no one suspected that the first hard disk MP3 player would not only turn the music market upside down, but also the fortunes of Apple. Almost 20 years later, Apple ended the era that heralded not only the comeback of the company, but also its way to the most valuable company in the world: The iPod is history.
In the press release, however, Apple avoids the open announcement. The last iPod, the seventh generation iPod Touch, which was launched in 2019, is “available while stocks last,” it says simply. In plain language, however, this also means that production has been discontinued. When the last supplies are gone, there will be no more new iPods.
Discontinued iPod
In any case, the current model had very little in common with the original iPod. The most important distinguishing features of the first iPods compared to other MP3 players – the striking click wheel for control and the then simply gigantic mechanical hard drives – were long gone: The last iPod based on the original design – the iPod Classic – has not been manufactured since 2014. The iPod Touch, which was introduced for the first time in 2007, was not just reminiscent of an iPhone. Only the lack of a mobile connection set him apart from Apple’s smartphone. In terms of operation, the support of apps and almost all areas of application, it hardly differed.
That should have become Apple’s iPod’s undoing. In 2006, i.e. the year before the iPhone was introduced, the different iPod models were still responsible for almost 40 percent of company income, but in 2014 it was only one percent. While the iPhone broke record after record.
Fallen victim to the success of the iPhone
The success of the iPhone and the smartphone itself may have been directly responsible for the falling sales. Because more and more people had a smartphone in their pocket, the need for an additional MP3 player ultimately fell away. In any case, the iPod Touch was of particular interest to people who did not yet have a smartphone; many parents bought it for their children. But because more and more older iPhones were passed on over time, the sales figures dropped even further.
For Apple, the iPod wasn’t just about a successful product. The associated iTunes ecosystem managed to do what the music industry had failed to do for years: users paid to buy individual MP3s instead of downloading them from the Internet. Apple suddenly became one of the biggest players in the music business.
The group is of course aware of the cultural and economic impact of the iPod. “Today, the spirit of the iPod lives on. We’ve built an incredible music experience into all of our products,” said Vice President of Marketing Greg Joswiak in Apple’s press release. “Music has always been at the heart of Apple. Bringing it to hundreds of millions of users the way iPod did not only impacted the entire music industry — iPod redefined it how music is discovered, heard and shared.”
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