Apple earlier this month finally discontinued its last iPod after two decades of domination that saw the music player develop into a powerful ecosystem of products, but “the spirit of iPod” lives on inside your Apple Watch.
Although there isn’t a direct replacement to the iPod in Apple’s lineup, the Apple Watch checks off many of the same boxes.
The clearest difference between the iPod and the Apple Watch is that the latter is strapped to the user’s wrist, while the iPod’s home was in the user’s pocket. But is that really true? People began wearing an iPod on their wrist before there was an inkling that Apple would be releasing a smartwatch. The controversial sixth-generation iPod Nano combined the form factor of the iPod Shuffle with the multi-touch screen of the iPod touch, creating a tiny, square touch-screen iPod. It wasn’t long before customers had the idea to try out the compact iPod as a watch; in fact, media outlets like Engadget reviewed the sixth-generation iPod as a watch rather than a music player in 2010. The Apple Watch wouldn’t be announced until 2015…
There was still a market for the iPod — people who wanted detachment from the constant connection to the online world. The iPod touch also hung around as an affordable option for kids who were not ready for an iPhone just yet. The Apple Watch filled this gap in the company’s lineup perfectly. A user could forget that an Apple Watch was on their wrist while they carried their iPhone, and when it was time to leave their iPhone behind, the smartwatch provided similar functions to an iPod. It’s even possible to give a child an Apple Watch that’s connected to a family member’s iPhone.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier this month:
Apple Watch has been our main iPod since Series 3 debuted with watchOS 4.0 in September 2017.
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The Apple Watch is not a standalone device like the iPod is. It hast to be paired up with an iPhone and if you don’t have an iPhone then what’s the point of have an Apple Watch If unless you have an iPhone.
Well, iPod (except touch) is also not a stand-alone device. It’s paired to an iTunes library on a computer (Mac or PC). Without iTunes for syncing content, iPods is useless. iPod allowed user to take their iTunes library away from computer and go mobile. Watch is tethered wirelessly to iPhone. iPod is tethered to computer running iTunes.
The iPod shuffle (after white plastic first gen) was Apple’s first “wearable” device, before the similarly clip-on 6th gen iPod nano. The other similarity is the Watch Digital Crown. It spins and functions as button, like the 1st iPod’s spinning wheel with center button. The real continuation of iPod is iPhone. A key initial marketing point of iPhone was it being “the iPod ever.” iPhone was tethered to computer (Mac or PC) running iTunes during first few years (for syncing and updates), just like iPod. Even used same 30-pin docking cable. This iTunes connection allowed Apple to take control of selling iPhone, away from the wireless carriers, and vastly improve customers’ experience. iPod sales began its decline because most Apple customers no longer needed a separate iPod. iPod was now part of iPhone.