No iPod update this year, iWatch rumored as a replacement later?

Even though Apple’s consumer appeal was born with the iPod more than a decade ago, we have seen how the company has taken different steps into cannibalizing the line-up through the iPhone in a way to avoid having competition do it for them. Apple’s Tim Cook stated in the past quarter results call that the iPod line-up is a declining business as it’s currently nailing less than $5 billion in 2013 compared to much better results in previous years. If you’re wondering what will happen to the iPod in the future, financial analysts have already begun to do the same.
Financial analysts are already doing all sorts of predictions regarding the future of the iPod, and one of these is that Apple won’t revamp the line-up this year once again. The current iPod line-up was launched at the end of 2012, and it seems that Apple plans to keep it that way during the launch of the iWatch. We most likely won’t see Apple kill the iPod initially, and will most probably wait for the iWatch to gain traction before killing the music player, mainly because Apple has production targets for the iWatch of only 5-6 million units.
The touch part of these rumors is seeing Apple replacing a $50 iPod Shuffle with an iWatch that’s rumored to cost a lot of money. Whatever the case may be, let’s hope Apple also gives us a Mickey Mouse iWatch, as we saw it do with the previous design of the iPod nano.


Source: Barrons