Apple is discontinuing the iPod Shuffle and Nano

Apple said on Thursday it is discontinuing the iPod Shuffle and Nano, marking the company’s continuing commitment to its flagship iPhone product.

Two models of the iPod Touch will still be available, Apple said, starting at $199 with double the capacity they had before.

The music device, alongside iTunes, is widely credited with driving digital music adoption in the early 2000s. The first iPod, unveiled in 2001, helped solidify Apple’s rebound under the leadership of co-founder Steve Jobs.

As of October 2014 — the last quarter Apple disclosed iPod sales — the company sold 2.6 million iPods, far fewer than the 39.3 million iPhones sold that quarter. Since then, the iPod’s influence has continued to wane, as thinner phones with more storage and faster internet speeds made streaming services like Apple Music more attractive. Analysts surveyed by FactSet estimate that Apple has sold about 1 million iPods per quarter in 2017, compared to 40 million to 50 million iPhone sales during the same periods.

[Source”timesofindia”]