Apple recently released their latest earnings numbers, and unsurprisingly they’re making hand over fist, with record profits for almost all of their products…except one. The iPod was the only product line to decline in sales over last year–5.3 million were sold last quarter, which is a decline of 19% from 2011. Tidbits was quick to point out that the number “doesn’t reflect any demand for the newly redesigned iPod touch and iPod nano models that only began selling after the quarter ended,” so the figure might not be as bad next quarter when the new iPod model sales are factored in.
Nonetheless, the decrease has to make you wonder if the iPod is slowly on its way out. It still dominates digital music player sales, but every year it represents a smaller chunk of the Apple revenue pie (check out Wings of Reason’s Q3 revenue breakdown from 2006 to 2012). Meanwhile, the iPhone and the iPad continue to bring in wheelbarrows of cash for Apple.
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With streaming music gaining in popularity and the ability to pull up your tunes on your iPad or your iPhone, many likely don’t see the need to carry a superfluous device with them when they’ve already got other iGadgets that essentially perform the same task. I personally only dust off my “iPod Classic” for road trips and use my 5th generation Nano on flights, but I typically opt to stream music on my iPhone when I’m working out at the gym instead of digging around for one of my older iPods.
People are still buying the iPod, however. The iPad Touch comprised over 50% of all iPods that were sold in Q4, and I imagine the Shuffle is popular among athletes and runners who want a lightweight music player. But I wonder if the steady decline in iPod sales will continue, and whether Apple has any plans to “revive” the product and restore attention to it.
Do you still use your iPod? Are you foaming at the mouth whenever a new model is released like Apple fans are with the iPhone or the iPad, or are you content to use an older generation model? What do you think will happen with the iPod–will it die a slow death, or is there opportunity for innovation?
photo credit: scottwills and pfala via photopin cc
