Why did Apple kill the iPod Touch forever?

According to SlashGearback when Steve Jobs (the late Apple CEO) introduced the first iPod in 2001, he boldly declared “listening to music will never be the same again” when talking about how to listen to music before. .

The last member of the iPod family has gone out of production AFP

At the time, the iPod was truly a remarkable device. The ability to store 1,000 songs in a pocket-sized design is a huge achievement two decades ago. iPod competitors appeared and failed, including the Microsoft Zune that not only failed to capture the market, but also became one of the disasters. technology the most important.

After the first iPod release, Apple refined the design and diversified its iPod portfolio with Nano, Shuffle, and Touch. The iPod Touch was so well received that it was used as a stepping stone or a door to the future, the iPhone. As Steve Jobs put it, this new device is “an iPod, a phone and an internet-connected device”. The fact that the iPhone included a bunch of iPod’s best features in a much more versatile device made the iPod quickly a backup device.

When music streaming services like Spotify arrived, music players like the iPod were once again seen as superfluous. The lack of internet connectivity, audiophile-grade DACs, lossless music support, and broad codec support make the iPod feel like a relic of the past. Apple’s music streaming service, Apple Music, also failed to benefit the iPod, leading many to question: Why use a device for MP3 files when people already have an iPhone?

And when the Apple Watch came out, it was considered the death certificate for the iPod. Much like what the iPhone did to the iPod touch, the Apple Watch made the iPod Nano obsolete then as a hybrid of the iPod Nano with a classic watch strap.

With the iPod Touch discontinued, the iPod hardware category is finally coming to an end. Before that, Apple discontinued the Classic model in 2014, while the Shuffle and Nano were discontinued three years later. The current generation iPod Touch has been around since 2019 and will no longer be produced as of now.

In the official announcement, Apple Senior Vice President Greg Joswiak said, “Today, the spirit of the iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from iPhone to Apple Watch, HomePod mini, Mac, iPad and Apple TV.”