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Ipod Life Cycle

In: Computers and Technology

Submitted By NAZ123
Words 2452
Pages 10
Where is the iPod with respect to the product lifecycle? Briefly explain your answer.
From the 4 stages of product life cycle, Apple’s iPod is in the final stage i.e. decline phase of its product life cycle.

INTRODUCTION STAGE
In 2001, Apple introduced its first portable digital music player an iPod. Before iPod, Walkman and bulky flash memory based MP3 players were the choice. This iPod was introduced as a digital music player that can hold up to 1000 songs. It had a capacity of 5GB. It was brought in competition with digital music players of 32 and 64 MB capacities, which stored only few dozens of songs. iPod was made available with a price of $399 [1] and was advertised as a “1000 songs in a pocket” [2]. This white colored small device, with a greyscale display, huge storage capacity, and ease of use was a big hit, with the introduction. Instead of buttons this device had a wheel to control the menus of the system [3]. By the end of 2001, Apple has sold a total of 125,000 iPods [4]. Along with iPod Apple also introduced its customers to iTunes -a music store. Apple licensed the SoundJam MP Music player from a small company and hired its hotshot programmer, Jeff Robbin. Under the direction of Jobs, Robbin spent several months retooling SoundJam into iTunes [5]. iTunes- a music library is used by Apple’s customers to listen and download music. This first released iPod is known as First Generation iPod. The name itself indicates that it is not the first and last product introduced by Apple for music lovers.

GROWTH STAGE
As expected, Apple announced Second Generation iPod in 2002. Compared to debuted model, this model had more storage capacities, and keeping the choices of its customers under consideration, Apple introduced this second generation with two storage capacities i.e. 10 and 20 GB. Apple also replaced the mechanical scroll wheels (controls) with

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