Era ends as Apple drops ipod from its playlist

APPLE is discontinuing sales of its ipod after a run lasting more than 20 years that fuelled Apple’s growth into one of the largest tech companies in the world.

“Today, the spirit of ipod lives on,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vicepresident, as he announced that production of the pocket-sized device, which was launched in 2001, will cease.

Current retail stocks of the ipod Touch will not be renewed when they run out, Apple said this week. The Touch is the last of the ipod family, the original ipod Classic having been discontinued in 2014.

The ipod entered the music scene in the era of the Sony Walkman, which survived the death of tape into the age of CDS only to be toppled by MP3S.

Together with itunes, Apple’s music store for buying and downloading music to the device, the ipod was a great success for the Californian tech firm.

Despite its close association with Apple founder Steve Jobs, the ipod was the brainchild of British chief designer Jony Ive.

Five years after its launch, ipod sales made up about 40pc of the $19bn (£15.4bn) Apple earned in 2006. A record-breaking 55million units were sold during 2008, but by 2015 sales of the music player accounted for just 1pc of the company’s income.

Over the past decade the rise of the smartphone, driven by Apple’s iphone, has caused demand for portable music players to plunge, but during its 21 years the ipod was credited with revolutionising the way people listen to music.

Apple said itunes will continue to be available on iphones, the Apple Watch and the rest of its personal device range.