Apple discontinues iPod Nano and Shuffle, ending the era of music players
After years of taking a backseat to the dominance of smartphones, the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle have been discontinued by Apple starting on Thursday, with the company quietly taking down the product pages from its website.
In an emailed statement, a company representative told The Verge that the products have met their end and are now officially discontinued.
"Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod Touch, now with double the capacity starting at just $199, and we are discontinuing the iPod shuffle and iPod nano," said the spokesperson.
The last update that the iPod nano received was in 2012, while the iPod Shuffle's last redesign was way back in 2010. The iPod Classic, a direct descendant of the original iPod, was officially discontinued by the company in 2014.
Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the decline of the iPod line seemed inevitable. The iPhone release came with an iPod app, which did everything the iPod could do, but with smaller storage built into the phone. As technology improved and flash-based storage prices dipped, smartphone capacity has since increased, one-upping the remaining advantage of the iPod.
The advent of music streaming, dominated by Spotify and Apple's very own Apple Music, seems to be the last straw that led to the fall of the iPod models, which did not have app support or internet connectivity.
The last remaining iPod is the iPod Touch, which is a multi-use device that features a touchscreen, internet connectivity and app support.
The first iPod was launched in 2001, and even though it was not the first music player in the market, it dominated the music player business, thanks to its large storage capacity. The iPod Shuffle was released in 2005 as the first iPod with a faster flash storage and no screen. Later that year, the iPod Nano was released as a replacement for the then very popular iPod mini.
The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle are the latest in a long line of devices that have been killed off by the smartphone's flexibility. Before music players, the smartphone had also killed off compact cameras, alarm clocks, the rolodex, and many portable gaming machines.
