iPod News Through the Years, 2001

Launch and expansion, 2001–2005

The iPod was introduced on 23 October 2001 as a 1,000-song player for the Mac and went on sale in November. Models for Windows were announced in July 2002. On 28 April 2003 the iTunes Music Store opened, selling songs for 99 cents each, and on 16 October that year iTunes and the store reached Windows. The range then widened: the iPod mini in January 2004, the screenless iPod shuffle in January 2005, the iPod nano in September 2005 and, in October 2005, an iPod that played video, alongside music videos and television episodes in iTunes.

Line chart of cumulative iPod sales announced by Apple: one million in June 2003, two million by January 2004, 15 million by March 2005, 100 million in April 2007, 220 million in September 2009, a quarter of a billion in September 2010, 300 million by October 2011 and 350 million by September 2012. — Cumulative iPod sales milestones announced by Apple, 2003–2012.

Peak years, 2006–2009

The store sold its billionth song on 23 February 2006. Apple reported its 100 millionth iPod on 9 April 2007, three months after announcing the iPhone, and in September 2007 added the iPod touch, the first iPod with Wi-Fi and a multi-touch screen. In April 2008 NPD figures ranked the iTunes Store first among US music retailers. The 2008 holiday quarter brought the highest iPod sales Apple reported, 22,727,000 units, and in January 2009 Apple said the entire iTunes catalogue would be free of DRM by the end of March. Cumulative sales passed 220 million by September 2009.

Slower growth, 2010–2014

Song sales reached 10 billion in February 2010 and 25 billion in February 2013. Apple said it had sold more than 300 million iPods by October 2011 and more than 350 million by September 2012, when the iPod touch and iPod nano moved to the Lightning connector. Quarterly unit sales were by then falling year on year. On 9 September 2014 the iPod classic, unchanged since 2009, was removed from Apple's online store, and from fiscal 2015 Apple stopped reporting iPod sales separately.

The final years, 2015–2022

Apple Music, a subscription streaming service, launched in more than 100 countries on 30 June 2015. On 27 July 2017 the iPod nano and iPod shuffle were withdrawn, leaving the iPod touch as the only model; its seventh and last generation followed on 28 May 2019. The end came on 10 May 2022, when Apple said the iPod touch would stay on sale only until stock ran out, more than 20 years after the first iPod.

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