The Long Slow Decline of the iPod

The first thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple was cut all the product clutter. The second thing he did was introduce those cute iMacs in all those different colours. But the thing that really turned Apple around was the introduction of the iPod in October 2001. It was slow to catch on at first, but once it was opened up to Windows users, it exploded. The iPod not only transformed Apple into a consumer electronics company, but it changed everything about how we listened to music.

But the iPod’s glory days are long gone. Apple hasn’t broken out iPod sales in their quarterly sales reports for years. And this past week, the company killed off the Nano and the Shuffle, leaving just two versions of the Touch. You want a smaller or cheaper MP3 player? Go somewhere else. Better yet, says Apple, just buy an iPhone.

Statista has this chart to show how far iPod revenues have fallen.