To be honest, I’d all but forgotten about the iPod. While I have about four lying around my house, and occasionally whip one out while travelling for a length of time which my iPhone’s battery absolutely won’t be able to survive, a portable device that has the primary function of playing music is no longer as essential as it once was. Every device seemingly allows you to play music these days, so while the iPod isn’t exactly redundant, it’s certainly less vital.
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Apple has seemingly realized this, with the company having removed the iPod category from the top of its website after their WWDC keynote, instead replacing it with a new Apple Music category, linking to the company’s new subscription streaming service.
As Apple Insider notes, iPod sales have been declining year-on-year, while the iPhone’s stock continues to rise and the Apple Watch made a splash in the wearable market, with analysts suggesting that it may be Apple’s most profitable product ever. While the iPod was once the company’s flagship product, they discontinued the iPod Classic line recently, and it may not be long before we see the same fate bestowed upon the likes of the Touch and Nano.
The iPod isn’t the only Apple product that has been in decline, though. The iPad line has also faced diminishing sales with the market for tablets drying up, but Apple is actively looking to revitalize the brand with the rumored iPad Pro, which will allegedly push tablets closer to the functionality of Macbooks. Unfortunately, there’s not much room for the iPod to improve, so this could be the death knell for the device that once pushed Apple back into relevancy.
