Apple announced on Tuesday that it would stop producing the last iPod model it still sells, ultimately ending the famous product line that helped the music business and Apple usher in a new era.
Customers can purchase an iPod Touch device “while supplies last,” according to Apple (AAPL). Customers may now listen to their favourite tunes on a variety of Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, according to the company.
“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry — it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a statement.
“Today, the spirit of iPod lives on,” Joswiak continued, highlighting how the iPod’s music experience has been blended into “all of our products.”
The iPod, which was first presented in 2001 by Apple cofounder and then-CEO Steve Jobs, helped kick off Apple’s extraordinary success with handheld devices. The iPod’s characteristic scroll wheel and the initial promise of “up to 1,000 CD-quality songs” on a gadget that fits in your pocket lured people in. More than 100 million iPods had been sold by mid-2007.
The iPhone, which was in many respects the spiritual heir to the iPod Touch, was released the same year. Long before it was formally retired, the smartphone and other Apple gadgets had made the iPod feel like a relic of the past.