Apple officially discontinued its entire iPod lineup in 2022, leaving behind the memory of a revolutionary product that had a strong impact on the music and technology industry. We all had an iPod, even if we weren’t fans of Steve Jobs’ company.
For Apple, it didn’t make much sense to continue selling these devices, since the giant company sold iPhones by the millions and their devices could do practically everything the iPod could and more.
Interestingly, Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted in 2005 about the future of Apple with their family of music players, stating that they wouldn’t be able to sustain the success of the iPod, but there was a reason behind these bold claims, as you will soon discover.
Bill Gates knew the iPod would be a fleeting success, but he didn’t see the iPhone coming
On May 12, 2005, Bill Gates declared to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German newspaper, that Apple had struck gold with the iPod, but the success would not last forever. In his opinion, Apple had lost its established position when it had dominated the market with the Macintosh.
“No matter how good Apple is, I don’t think the success of the iPod is sustainable in the long term. Parallels can be drawn with computers: Apple was very strong in this field before, with its Macintosh and its graphical user interface – like the iPod today – and then lost its position.”
Gates’ reasoning that the iPod was right and solid: smartphones were gradually entering this industry and, piece by piece, they were taking market share away from the compact music player.
However, the Microsoft executive did not anticipate that Apple had an ace up its sleeve, and it was the first iPhone, which materialized in 2007. At that time, there was absolutely nothing like it, and Google’s Android platform did not exist, which turned the iPhone into a technological marvel in the mobile computing space.
While Apple continued to improve the iPhone, Microsoft took a backseat with Windows Phone OS and decided to stop working on it, withdrawing it in 2015.
During Apple’s second quarter 2024 earnings, in which the company generated $90.75 billion in revenue, the company’s iPhone segment contributed 50.6% of it, which is interesting to see, as at one point, the iPod represented 45% of total revenue.
