Apple's iPod: is the end nigh? [BBC Article]

flazio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25927366

It does seem to be waning alright, a quick look at topics on this forum and the iPod is hardly ever talked about. I hope the iPod touch is continued.

maximoose

My 160gb classic broke recently enough. I got iTunes Match on my phone, but it just isn't the same

I hope they don't die out. Must pick up another soon.

Creamy Goodness

If you listen to Apple's quarterly earning calls you hear them say specifically that they intentionally cannibalised iPod sales with the iPhone.

They make a lot more profit per iPhone than iPod touch. It's all part of their plans.

PaddyFagan

However it's also worth noting that even in Q4 2013 Apple had $2bn in revenue on iPods. Yes, the track is down and yes, Apple want to sell higher margin products - but even Apple aren't going to walk away from those kind of revenue numbers. I'd expect some of the iPod lines to go relatively quickly (next Autumn with the iPhone 6 release?) and minor refresh of some lines, with a complete end in a year or two...

Paddy

Sad Professor

Apple intentionally cannibalise themselves all the time and their willingness to do so sets them apart from the rest of the tech industry. Jobs’s philosophy was if you don’t do it somebody else will. It’s not just about what makes more profit, it’s about making the best stuff and staying ahead of competitors. The iPod Mini and iPad Mini both ate into sales of the original product despite having lower margins.

Zcott

I think the days of a dedicated MP3 player are certainly approaching an end for most people. The only real use for a high storage music player are for background music purposes, I think. I used my 160gb iPod Classic in the car for a few years until it broke and then I went to iTunes Match.

For a lot of people - myself, anyway! - the iPod was what brought me over to Apple.

FourFourRED

Hardly surprising. Rise of smartphones + music streaming services was always going to lead to a decline of the iPod. The iPhone purposely began to replace it - "iPhone, the best iPod we've ever made".

iPods over the last number of years have been targeted at younger age groups who don't have smartphones but now even that is changing and everywhere you go now you see really young children with iPhones.

The iPod Classic was the last of the great iPods and when they stopped updating that, it was clear that the shift was changing to the iPhone + iTunes match etc.

flazio

I would disagree that the 'Classic' was the last great iPod, the Nano, in particular the 5th Generation model was one of the biggest selling iPods of all time IIRC

FourFourRED

flazio wrote: »

I would disagree that the 'Classic' was the last great iPod, the Nano, in particular the 5th Generation model was one of the biggest selling iPods of all time IIRC

Yeah I had one of them & enjoyed it but obviously it was limited with regard to storage capacity. The 160GB models were what defined the iPod really and everything after that was moving towards iPhone & those colourful fun themed iPod's which were positioned towards young people.

160GB iPod Classic + smartphone combo is still a sensible option because of the storage capacity. iTunes match is designed to change that I guess but not everyone has a data plan that allows that to be seamless for listening to music on the go. I definitely wouldn't carry around an iPhone & iPod nano/touch/shuffle together, they are too similar with regards to storage and function.

Since I got my iPhone and Spotify subscription I can't imagine ever going back to an iPod. The convenience of being able to listen to any song I feel like at the time, regardless of whether it's in my personal collection or not, and not having to sync music to my phone is too great. I keep a playlist of music I'm listening to currently saved for offline usage so I don't use up too much data on the move, but it doesn't eat into it too much anyway! I sold my old iPod nano within a week of getting my iphone :P