iPod Sales Down 31% From Last Year, Gets No Mention From Apple

We've heard a lot of numbers from Apple today, including record iPhone sales for the third quarter, as well as iPad and Mac sales that were slightly down, but still better than expected by the company. However, what didn't get mentioned at all in the press release or the earnings call was how well the iPod is doing.

In the simplest of terms, the iPod isn't doing well at all. In fact, revenue for the iPod business dropped a staggering 31% year-over-year, and the number of units sold dropped 32%. This is the biggest hit that the iPod has ever taken in an earnings report within the last few years. The second-biggest hit that the iPod took was Q4 2011 when iPod sales were down 27% from the previous year.

Of course, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as we've known for awhile that the iPod has been on a slow downward trend, even with the iPod touch still getting a lot of love from Apple as the phone-less iPhone device for those who want a portable multimedia player without the communication radios.

Apple didn't provide specifics as far as sales figures for each individual iPod device, but we're guessing the iPod touch is up there as the best-selling iPod, while the Nano and Shuffle might be up there as well, but the iPod Classic is seeing its dying day, considering that Apple hasn't touched it in a couple years, and hasn't bothered updating it in a while.

This all goes to show that Apple is cannibalizing their own products, but that's not a bad thing at all. It's merely the circle of life and the progression of technology. iPods and music players were all the craze in the early 2000s, but it's the smartphone that's taking over now, and Apple is more than happy to follow along that route.