In the history of apple, if you want to ask what products can be epoch-making for apple, iMac, iPod and iPhone are undoubtedly the three indisputable parts. In particular, the emergence of iPod once turned apple into a miracle and realized its second rise. However, this iPod finally failed. When the iPod completely disappeared from us, We can't help asking how the iPod that once saved Apple ended? 1、 Goodbye iPod The 256gb and 128GB versions of iPod touch in all colors on the official website have been sold out within a day after Apple announced the shutdown of iPod touch, according to it house. Now we can see from Apple's China official website that all the iPod touch on sale have been sold out, and even the 32GB version has been robbed. It is reported that this is the last model of portable music player that the company is still selling. This event announced the end of the digital music era that Apple started when it first launched the iPod in 2001, and the iPod touch has since completed its mission. According to the review and analysis of titanium media, the birth of iPod began with Apple's Dilemma and FireWire, a long dormant data transmission technology. With FireWire, Mac users can transfer video or audio with other digital products and edit them on their computers. In 2001, apple lost money for the first time, and MAC sales fell by 32%. At that time, in order to attract users to buy Mac, apple tried to link various emerging digital media with FireWire, set a "digital hub" strategy and decided to develop corresponding software and hardware by itself. After the failure of iMovie attempt, jobs chose the field of music player. At that time, there was no shortage of walkmans with large storage capacity and long battery life, but they were either "too big and bulky" or the user interface was "too small and useless". With its minimalist industrial design and strong scientific and technological strength, Apple has realized the curve overtaking of iPod: it stores 1000 songs, plays music for 10 hours continuously, and can be put into the tiny body of its trouser pocket. The real highlight is that users can download any music they want to listen to through iTunes. The iPod has achieved unprecedented success. In fiscal year 2002, its sales revenue reached US $143 million, which has been a great achievement. In fiscal year 2004, with the support of iTunes, the sales revenue of iPod jumped to $1.3 billion. In fiscal year 2005, iPod's revenue exceeded $4.5 billion, making it Apple's highest revenue product. According to the statistics of interface news, in the 21 years from the launch of iPod in 2001 to 2022, the total shipment of iPod reached 430 million to 450 million. 2、 How did the iPod that saved Apple end? In fact, the biggest feeling of seeing the end of the iPod is expected. Why do you say so? With the great similarity between the iPod and the iPhone after jobs launched the iPhone in 2007, it is only a matter of time before the former is replaced by the latter. It is not surprising that the iPod completely withdrew from the market after more than a decade. However, as the existence that once saved apple, it is still necessary to analyze how the iPod ended? First, the inevitability of the emergence of iPod in the pre smartphone era. Speaking of iPod, I believe everyone will think of the pre smartphone era. It may be hard to imagine many 00 later. In that era of extreme shortage of smart terminals, the only smart terminal we can use is actually a computer, and the high price makes it difficult to popularize notebook computers. Under such circumstances, jobs creatively launched a cross era product iPod, The logic of the launch of iPod is to use a professional music player to solve the problems in the development of apple in that period when there was no popularization of intelligent terminals. Because the iPod adopts many advanced transmission technologies, it has become the most popular music playing terminal in the market and helped Apple turn around its losses in one fell swoop. It can be said that the emergence of the iPod is to save Apple's existence. In fact, this was also the inevitable development trend of that era at that time. This was because in the pre smartphone era, it was necessary to have professional equipment to meet the needs of specialization. Compared with many expensive and difficult to use music players, simple design, easy-to-use interaction and beautiful appearance finally became the key for iPod to conquer consumers, and jobs also fired his first shot of return with iPod, It can be said that the success of the iPod once again helped jobs write his own legend. Later, before the iPhone was launched, the emergence of iPod touch made apple explore the implementation form of smart phones long before Nokia. Compared with other devices, iPod touch is actually the real ancestor of smart phones. In a sense, the first generation of iPhone after that is only the addition of a call function to iPod touch. For most other services, iPod touch can be well implemented, IPod is the predecessor of smart phone and the beginning of Apple's real rise. Second, the trend from specificity to versatility cannot be changed. After that, with the birth of the iPhone, it is a certainty that the iPod will gradually withdraw from the market. This is because the iPod has all the functions, and the iPhone can provide more services. Since the iPhone has realized various services, why should we buy an iPod? Of course, for most people who can't afford the iPhone and parents who don't want their children to use the phone too early, they may buy the iPod to replace the iPhone, but it has become an inevitable trend for the iPhone to completely replace the iPod. This is because the cost of any special equipment must be very high. The development trend of economy and society does not necessarily evolve towards a more advanced direction, but will evolve towards the direction of the lowest social cost. Since all functions of iPod can be realized through iPhone, even with the rapid development of major Android phones in recent years, the use experience of Android phones does not belong to iPod. For most users, why do I need to get an iPod that adds to the snake? The gradual decline of iPod has become an inevitable trend. In 2013, digital music download services showed a downward trend; The following year, Apple bought beats electronics, a maker of headphones and audio software, for $3 billion, and pocketed beats music, the company's streaming media service; In 2015, beats music was integrated with iTunes radio, which had been free before. Apple Music, a full payment model, had 30 million music libraries as soon as it was launched. With the development of Apple Music, the old "iPod + iTunes" model of iPod has become more and more difficult to meet Apple's needs. Finally, the end of iPod has become inevitable. Third, the moat Apple needs has actually been formed. Although the iPod has come to an end, Apple's story is not over. For apple, his moat has actually formed after gradually giving up the iPod. According to Apple's Q2 financial report in 2022, the fees from Apple Music, icloud and app store reached US $19.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.28%, exceeding the revenue of all hardware except iPhone, Become Apple's second growth curve. For apple, the music service track actually has more and better products to layout. From hardware to service, Apple has realized its own upgrade. In a sense, the iPod has not disappeared. It has just completely become a part of the iPhone and has been digested and absorbed by the iPhone. However, the end of the iPod represents the end of an era. For Steve Jobs, who created the iPod era, if he knows, what kind of evaluation will he give when he sees the exit of the current iPod? (Xinhua News Agency)