The iPod is dead! Except it isn’t!
Ed Sutherland for Cult of Mac:
As the iPhone and iPad take on many of its features, iPod sales are expected to drop another 7.2 percent during the June quarter just ended.
Although Apple still controls more than 70 percent of the iPod player market, many features once exclusive to the MP3 player can be found in the iPhone and iPad. It’s unknown how long the venerable iPod will survive as many Apple customers turn to other devices for their music.
It’s clear iPods aren’t a ‘default’ device these days, but there’s still a huge market for them. Not everyone wants an iPhone, nor can everyone afford one. The same goes for the iPad, which is also significantly less pocketable than Apple’s smaller devices. Some people want a portable web-enabled unit that can play games and shoot video.
Frankly, if Apple made the iPod’s camera halfway decent and added 3G, I’ll bet it would become massively popular as an alternative to a smartphone. As it is, the device is still great for kids, for gamers, for people who want a lightweight device for shooting video, and for many other users besides.
Actually, I always thought that the iPod Touch is brilliant value for gamers that don’t care much for the expensive phone bits of the iPhone. And it’s a lovely mp3 player too, though not as beautiful as the rest of the (older) iPods.
Been thinking about getting an iPod Touch myself, for WiFi surfing at home and gaming on the move. My only concern is if they introduce another model/range before I make my decision.
@Merman: I have a 64 GB current gen. Lovely, bar terrible audio output, so be aware of that. (i.e. get some headphones too).
You miss one argument for an iTouch. Not wanting to clean out your phones battery life
I can’t help but think that the iPod touch is slightly crippled so as to not cannibalize iPhone sales. Perhaps we’ll see 3G when the iPhone has enough other features to be different.
When Apple makes a product they typically stick by it for a long time, even when it’s sales aren’t so hot. Take a look at Apple TV for example, how many times has that been declared dead by the market? They just keep changing their products slightly on every release to try and boost sales and meet the market where it’s at. I think we’ll see the iPod around for quite some time, after all, it did change the music industry when it was first released.