Business

After 20 years, Apple is saying goodbye to the iPod

It was once the face of portable music, but the iPod's time is up as Apple is discontinuing the device.

iPod Touch, the only version still being sold, will be available until supplies run out

In this photo from Oct. 23, 2001, the original iPod is displayed after its introduction by Apple. (Julie Jacobson/The Associated Press)

Apple is discontinuing the iPod, more than 20 years after the device became the face of portable music and kickstarted its meteoric evolution into the world's biggest company.

The iPod Touch, the only version of the portable music player still being sold, will be available till supplies last, Apple said in a blog post on Tuesday.

Since its launch in 2001, the iPod took on a storm of competing music players before being eclipsed by smartphones, online music streaming and within the Apple pantheon, by the rise of the iPhone.

The current iteration of the iPod, the Touch, has been on sale since 2007. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

The iPod has undergone several iterations since its inception featuring a scroll wheel, the capacity to store 1,000 songs and a 10-hour battery life. The version that has been carried till now — the iPod Touch — was launched in 2007, the same year as the iPhone.

Apple stopped reporting iPod sales in 2015.

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