Believe it or Not, There’s Still an Audience Out There for the iPod Touch

Although the iPod touch has been discontinued for over two years, many could still benefit from its reintroduction. It would just need to be marketed differently.

Remembering the iPod Touch

The iPod touch was introduced in 2007, shortly after the iPhone was initially revealed. It was pitched to people who wanted the features of an original iPhone without being tied to a carrier plan or paying its higher price.

“People have been asking us and wondering when we’re going to bring this technology to an iPod,” said Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple. Apple continued to release new versions of the iPod touch until 2019, but it discontinued it three years later, in 2022.

As the iPhone continued to gain popularity, especially when cheaper alternatives—like the iPhone SE—were introduced, the iPod touch lost its core audience. However, with a new approach, it could make a thunderous comeback if Apple marketed it to new audiences outside of music fans.

A Great Medical Journal

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been sharing information electronically, especially with their physicians. With more doctors’ offices using digital medical record applications for patients to access, it’s now easier to share their medical information with their doctors remotely.

Additionally, as more at-home health products have their own app that syncs with Apple Health, reviewing and sharing your health information with others has never been easier.

Reintroducing the iPod touch as a portable, affordable digital medical device could attract health-tracking enthusiasts who prefer not to invest in an iPhone or require the size of an iPad.

One group that could benefit would be diabetics who use blood glucose meters—like a FreeStyle Libre sensor—to check their blood sugar continuously. Adding an NFC band to the iPod touch would eliminate the need to purchase the additional meter needed to get that information while ensuring those numbers are already synced to the device.

Marketing the iPod touch as a medical companion could also resonate with various audiences—such as older adults—who want an easy-to-use device without all the fancy features of an iPhone. One that can store their medical information, share it with their doctor, and receive test results without jumping through multiple hoops to accomplish it.

Ultimately, the iPod touch could be an excellent product for people who want to or need to track their health and vitals. It’s easy to use, portable, and allows for easy medical sharing between family, friends, and doctors.

A Portable Smart Home Controller

Smart homes are great for people who want to effortlessly control their appliances from their devices or with their voice. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy for others who aren’t set as electronic residents or guests of your home.

You could install an iPad as a central control hub to solve the issue, but they’re big, and mounting them (say, on a fridge) would eliminate its portability. Additionally, they’re not cheap, with the starting price being $349 and the most portable version starting at $499.

Setting up an iPod touch as a controller for your smart home would be most beneficial. It’s cheaper than an iPad and can easily be carried around in your pocket or tucked into a drawer. Additionally, you can keep it on the arm of the couch or the coffee table for easy access for anyone to control your smart home. With its small size, it wouldn’t look out of place.

With the rumors that Apple will release a standalone smart home display in 2025, reintroducing the iPod touch as a smart home controller could appeal to those interested. This would especially be for those who want a more portable controller that runs a familiar operating system.

Your Kids Will Love It

From the beginning, the iPod touch was seen as an excellent product for kids because it allowed them to stay entertained by downloading apps and surfing the web while allowing them to keep in touch through FaceTime and iMessage. It was the closest to giving your child a phone when you didn’t want to provide them with one yet.

Even though the iPod touch has been discontinued, this logic is still valid. It’s a great device to keep kids occupied while allowing parents to control what their children can do and how they use it through parental controls within the Screen Time settings.

Right now, if a parent wants to get their kid a device other than a phone, it must be the iPad. While it is a good product, it cannot beat the price and portability of the iPod touch. With a $199 price tag and size that fits easily within a kid’s pocket, the iPod touch is ideal for them.

Relaunching the iPod touch as kid-friendly could appeal to parents who want to get their children a durable and reliable device that doesn’t break the bank and will last for a long time.

Reclaiming Its Crown as the Best Budget Gaming Device

The iPod touch was heavily marketed as a music-listening device, but second-handily, it was also promoted as a gaming device. Apple captured its gaming abilities based on the iPod’s portability, graphic capabilities, and motion-sensing technology.

“[The iPod touch] is the world’s most popular game player…” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, at an event in 2012.

With the popularity of the Nintendo Switch, the third best-selling portable gaming device in history, with over 146 million units sold, the iPod touch has a huge market to work with. In addition, Apple has its own gaming service, Apple Arcade, and continues to introduce new titles to the service nearly every month, so they have an extensive catalog to go along with it.

With its compact design, advanced hardware and software for intense graphics performance, and the addition of Apple Arcade, the iPod touch has the potential to attract a large portion of the gaming community like it did back in 2012. Furthermore, if it starts at $199—or cheaper—it could be a worthy rival to the Nintendo Switch Lite, which begins at the same price.

Above all, the iPod touch was designed to help consume multiple media forms, from music to videos to podcasts. As streaming services have become more popular since the iPod was first introduced, it adds a new value to the device for people who just want a device to download and stream media from and nothing else.

Having a spare device to consume media from solely can be helpful when conserving your primary device’s battery on a long trip. It’s also useful when you want to exercise but don’t want to bring your primary device.

The iPod touch would also be superb for staying in your car, eliminating the risk of accidentally forgetting it when leaving the house. With CarPlay and Bluetooth connectivity, you can use it as the primary media source without taking out or using your iPhone.

Furthermore, the iPod touch can be used for turn-by-turn navigation even when not connected to Wi-Fi, as it can download offline maps beforehand.

If you’re going on a long flight or road trip, the iPod touch is also an excellent device for downloading large movies and music files without occupying space on your primary device. Additionally, assuming it still has a headphone jack, you would not need to worry about Bluetooth connectivity.

Long Live the iPod Touch

Apple has no plans to revive the iPod touch anytime soon. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen, as the company has revived products users thought were dead due to a lack of hardware updates.

But suppose Apple decides to bring back the iPod touch; if it expands the markets it promotes within, it could revive its relevancy and grow its user base beyond music listeners and video watchers.