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iPod

Apple's pocket music player that defined a generation — discontinued as the smartphone took over

Defunct — The iPod was Apple's iconic portable music player, launched in 2001 and driven by iTunes. The whole line was discontinued by 2022, as the smartphone absorbed its role entirely.

The iPod, launched by Apple in 2001, became one of the most successful and culturally significant consumer products ever. Its simple design, the "1,000 songs in your pocket" promise and its tight integration with iTunes turned it into the defining music device of the 2000s.

Over the years it expanded into multiple models — the iPod classic, nano, shuffle and touch — each reshaping portable music. The iPod made Apple a consumer-electronics titan and set the stage for the iPhone.

But the smartphone changed everything. As phones absorbed music, cameras and more, the iPod's purpose faded. Apple discontinued the iPod classic in 2014, the nano and shuffle in 2017, and the final iPod Touch in 2022, ending the line after two decades.

Quick facts

Launched
2001
Iconic
"1,000 songs in your pocket"
Models
Classic, nano, shuffle, touch
Classic retired
2014
Nano/Shuffle retired
2017
iPod Touch retired
2022 (end of line)
Legacy
The device that made Apple a music titan

Lineage — where the name went

Apple's pocket player of 2001, the family of models it spawned, and the phone that outsold it before the line was retired in 2022.

  1. 2001 — Steve Jobs created iPod (announced 23 October 2001 and released on 10 November)
  2. 2001 — Apple created iPod (designed and marketed the line)
  3. 2001 — Jon Rubinstein appointed Tony Fadell (recruited him to build Apple's own MP3 player)
  4. 2001 — Tony Fadell created iPod (led the project as an independent contractor)
  5. 2003 — Apple created The iTunes Store (the store opened in April 2003)
  6. 2003 — iPod sibling-of The iTunes Store (the catalogue and the player were built to work as a pair)
  7. iPod created iPod classic (the hard-drive line, given the classic name in 2007)
  8. 2004 — iPod created iPod mini (announced in January 2004 and shipped the following month)
  9. 2005 — iPod created iPod shuffle (announced in January 2005 as the first flash-memory iPod)
  10. 2005 — iPod created iPod nano (launched on 7 September 2005)
  11. 2005 — iPod nano was succeeded by iPod mini (the nano replaced the mini)
  12. 2007 — iPod created iPod touch (the touchscreen model, introduced on 5 September 2007)
  13. 2010 — iPhone was succeeded by iPod (iPhone sales overtook the iPod's during 2010)
  14. 2014 — The end of the iPod classic was succeeded by iPod classic (the last hard-drive iPod was retired on 9 September 2014)
  15. 2022 — The end of the iPod line was succeeded by iPod (Apple discontinued the iPod touch on 10 May 2022)

Entities in this tree: iPod (product, 2001); Apple (company); Steve Jobs (person); Jon Rubinstein (person); Tony Fadell (person); iPod classic (product, 2001); iPod mini (product, 2004); iPod nano (product, 2005); iPod shuffle (product, 2005); iPod touch (product, 2007); iPhone (product); The iTunes Store (product, 2003); The end of the iPod classic (event, 2014); The end of the iPod line (event, 2022)

Sources

  1. iPod - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-05)
  2. Apple discontinues iPod Touch, telling users to buy 'while supplies last' — PCMag (2026-09-05)
  3. History of iTunes - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  4. iPod Classic - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  5. iPod Mini - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  6. iPod Nano - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  7. iPod Shuffle - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  8. iPod Touch - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)

Related: itunes · napster