If sales of Apple ’s iPod are any indication , the prime of the MP3 player is over and done with .
iPod sales agreement have beensteadily decliningsince their peak at22.7 millionin December 2008 , and analysts estimate another 7.2 pct drop over the one-fourth that just ended .
Apple still commands 70 percent of the MP3 player market , but it ’s clear that other mobile devices , namely smartphones and tab , can do the caper of an MP3 player ( while performing a 10000 of other function , too ) .
In September of last year , Apple dramaticallyrevamped its line of iPods , even give way the iPod Touch some features that were alone to the iPhone 4 at the meter , namelyFaceTime . Smartphones areincreasingly dominatingU.S. mobile phone purchase , and as consumers buy the feature article - plentiful devices , they no longer have a need for the single - purpose MP3 actor . Rumors have blazedfor yearsthat Apple would discontinue one ( typically the iPod Classic ) or more iPod mannikin , but it has n’t happen yet .
It ’s potential that Apple could lay an iPod , belike the previous iPod Classic rather than the more popular iPod Touch , to pillow at its upcoming September event .
But although iPod gross revenue are shrink , it ’s hardly an issue for Apple . The iPhone 4 sold18.6 million unitsin the first quarter of 2011 alone . And fit in to a written report from Resolve Market Research , between 80 and 90 % of pad of paper - owning respondentshad an iPad or iPad 2 . But , some analyst think Apple miss out on an opportunity for more sale .
“ We conceive iOS equipment would have been up ~20 per centum ( one-quarter over one-fourth ) if iPhone 5 had embark in June , ” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munstersaid today . In late June , Google ’s Andy Rubintweeted thatthere are over half a million Android gadget activations pass off daily , and yesterday , that number startle up to550,000per sidereal day . Some of those excess purchases could have been iPhones , had an iPhone 5 been uncommitted .
Regardless , Apple still has a self-colored pip as one of thetop three smartphone manufacturersin the United States . And as more and more hoi polloi lie their MP3 player to rest , they ’ll be ferment to smartphones to secure in for their mobile music fix .
Wired.com has been expanding the hive mind with engineering science , science and geek culture news since 1995 .
AppleiPod
Daily Newsletter
Get the in effect tech , scientific discipline , and culture word in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
