Apple Kills Off iPod Nano, Shuffle; Is This the End for Portable Music Players?
Apple has trimmed down its line of portable music players by ending the sale of the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. With this move, all that remains on the product line are iPods running iOS, ending the era of iPods fully dedicated to playing music.
Many believed that it was only a matter of time before Apple discontinues the two music players, especially with Apple's increasing promotion of its music and media apps.
"All of us have known for some time that iPod is a declining business," Apple Chief Tim Cook said before in 2014, when Apple discontinued the classic iPod.
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The iPod Touch, meanwhile, got a price cut as well. The iPod Touch has been the best-selling model from the company's line of music players, and can largely be considered as an iPhone minus the phone features, as noted by Business Insider.
An email by an Apple representative confirmed the removal of the iPod Touch and iPod Shuffle, although a few of the product pages could still be up on Apple's site.
"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," the email read.
The iPod brand, meanwhile, lives on with the AirPod and the HomePod products, along with the iPod Touch. The discontinued devices, the iPod Shuffle, in particular, are not compatible with Apple's new line of wireless headphones, the Airpods. The two devices do not work with the company's streaming services as well.
This move could be Apple's way of consolidating their music devices to work with Apple Music and Airpods, ending the company's support for music players that are stand-alone devices.
The iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle were first introduced in 2005, and they have since received little to no updates until their discontinuation. The iPod Touch now starts at $199 for the model with 32 GB of storage, with the 128 GB model selling for $299.
