Apple discontinues the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano!

Brand News #7

In the movie Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender who plays the role of Steve Jobs says to his daughter Lisa that "I am going to put a 1000 songs in your pocket". What he was referring to was the original iPod with the click-wheel which was under development in late 1990s.

A revolutionary product which was well ahead of its time and competition is no more. Staying true to Apple's commitment towards its flagship iPhone product, it has discontinued the Shuffle and Nano from the iPod product line. Two models of the iPod Touch will still be available with double the capacity starting at $199.

The first iPod was a very important product for Apple which helped in its come back under the leadership of Steve Jobs during early 2000's. Along with the combination of iTunes, iPod is also given credit for driving the digital music adoption in the early years.

The shuffle right from its release was a solid carefree device for people on the move. Priced at $50, it was the right kind of device that one could break or lose without feeling guilty. 

The Nano was in a totally different league all together. Apple experimented quite a lot with it. Right from replacing the physical buttons with a touch interface in the 6th generation to changing the form factor in the 3rd generation. It did have its own cult following!

iPod's popularity started fading around 2014 as thinner iPhone models with better internet capabilities made the iTunes experience more attractive. Consumers for the sake of not carrying too many devices, started opting for the iPhone as the primary device for listening to music as well. 

From the recent analyst findings, it is seen that Apple sold about 1 million iPods per quarter in 2017 compared to about 50 million iPhone sales in the same period. So as far as numbers go, Apple is spot on with this decision. 

Regardless of what analysts at Apple may think, this is still a sad news for me personally. My first personal music device was the first generation iPod Shuffle which was gifted by my sister. Later on I picked up a clip-on type Shuffle when I started hitting the gym. Both the devices are still with me and in pristine condition.