Bill Gates Predicted 19 Years Ago Today That Apple Cannot Sustain The Success Of The iPod Thanks To The Inevitable Entry Of Smartphones
Apple officially discontinued its entire iPod range in 2022, leaving behind memories of a revolutionary product that strongly impacted the music and technology industry. It made little sense to continue selling these devices, as the company giant was selling iPhones in the millions, and its handsets could pretty much do everything the iPod could and more. However, there was a time when Microsoft founder Bill Gates was not so optimistic about Apple’s future with its music player family, stating that it could not sustain the iPod’s success, but there was a reason for these bold claims, as you will soon find out.
Bill Gates may have been correct in his statement, but Apple quickly pivoted by introducing the first iPhone in 2007
On May 12, 2005, Bill Gates told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German newspaper, that Apple struck gold with the iPod, but that success was not going to last forever. He made the following statement, believing that Apple lost its established position when it had cornered the market with the Macintosh.
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Gates’ reasoning for the iPod being an unsustainable success was sound; smartphones were slowly entering this industry, and piece by piece, they were taking the market share away from the compact music player. However, the former Microsoft executive did not foresee that Apple had an ace up its sleeve, and that was the first iPhone, which materialized in 2007. At the time, there was absolutely nothing like it, and Google’s Android platform did not exist, making the iPhone a technological marvel in the mobile computing space.
Where Apple continued to improve the iPhone, Microsoft took a backseat with Windows Phone OS and decided not to work on it any longer, pulling the plug in 2015. During Apple’s Q2 2024 earnings, where the company generated $90.75 billion in revenue, the company’s
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