Apple has said that it has stopped the production of the the iPod Touch, its oldest music player.
The iPod hit the stores on October 23, 2001, after Steve Jobs said Apple was venturing into the field of music.
He thereafter unveiled the very first iPod which is now biting the dust.
iPod is a pocket digital music player.
Many people who were young a couple of decades ago can reminisce about old memories when the iPod Touch held sway.
The device took music listening to a whole new level, as many people loved it much.
iPod Touch could store up to 1,000 tracks of songs.
That was a period before the iPhone came to takeover.
Although Apple said the music player has reached the end of its life span, it will continue to sell the iPod touch.
The company said iPod sales will continue “while supplies last” until it sells the last unit.
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After the last unit, you will never hear about the player again, Apple said.
Apple has introduced many iPod models such as the Nano, iPod Touchpad and Shuffle.
It released the iPod Touch in 2007 as the last model.
Apple last updated the iPod in 2019. However, the first models came in 2001.
The 2001 iPod was a 5Gb device.
As the first iPod, it sold for $399. It was a 6.5 ounces, 2.4 inches wide and four inches tall device.
The ¾-inch thick stainless steel player stored up to 1000 songs.
Users navigated songs with a mechanical scroll wheel on a monochrome LCD display and had a 5GB hard drive that filled up using a FireWire port.
“An iBook is really portable,” Jobs boasted at the iPod unveiling, “but this is ultra-portable!”
Reacting to the move to discontinue the production, senior vice-president of worldwide marketing at Apple, Greg Joswiak, said thus:
iPod “redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared.”
Fans thought Apple was going to announce a new music player after the invitation for the launch event read: “Hint: It’s not a Mac.”
“Music’s a part of everyone’s life. Music’s been around forever. It will always be around,” Jobs said during his hour long presentation.
The big headline for the night was simple: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
Meanwhile iPod was a favourite of car manufacturing companies and celebrities.
BMW introduced the first car entertainment system with a built-in iPod system.
Similarly, celebrities like John Mayer, U2 and Oprah Winfrey supported the device.
Why Apple is phasing out iPod:
The coming of the iPhone gave the device a death blow.
Apple streaming service now has over 90 million songs as against the iPod’s largest storage capacity.
iPod’s seventh-generation, iPod Touch, is Apple’s most recent iPod release to date.
It came with an A10 processor and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
This definitely cant contain up to 90 million songs, although it came with a new 256GB storage option.
Apple sold it for $399. It’s available in blue, pink, silver, gold, space grey and (Product) Red.
Meanwhile, tech analysts said iPhone killed iPods.
“When Apple created the iPhone it knew that it would ultimately mean the beginning of the end of the iPod,” Ben Wood, chief analyst at technology advisory firm CCS Insight, told the BBC in a report.
Carolina Milanesi from Creative Strategies said the decline of iPod sales was connected to the rise of iPhone sales – like the move from digital sales to streaming.
“The demise of the iPod is probably the best example of Apple not being concerned about cannibalising its own products,” she said.
The iPod was remarkable because it gave people better option to enjoy music other than listening from CD and cassette players.
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