The tiny machine that just might have been the most instrumental in helping streaming music thrive is no more. Apple has announced that the company will no longer produce the foundational portable music device more than 20 years after it first debuted. Once the current supply of iPod Touch is sold out, the entire line will be officially retired.
“Music has always been part of our core at Apple,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said in a statement, “and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impact more than just the music industry — it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared.”
“Today, the spirit of iPod lives on,” he continued. “We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV. And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio — there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”
The iPod went through many iterations after its debut in October 2001. The iPod Touch, Mini, Nano, and Shuffle would be released over the years, though the line would eventually be overshadowed by Apple’s iPhone, which combined the iPod’s functionality with far more services.
As NBC points out, this just might spur the prices of the existing iPod’s to go even higher on the used machines market.
