Farewell to the iPod, and its consequences
On May 10th, Apple stopped selling the iPod touch.
With this decision, not only this model, which appeared in 2007, disappears, but also the iPod range takes its leave. Launched in 2001, it revolutionized the way of listening music.
On the second-hand market, what effect has this announcement had on the prices of second-hand music players? One could expect two types of antagonistic reactions from the market: a price crash, acting the fact that iPods (touch and others) were definitely obsolete; and a nostalgia effect, conferring an increased sentimental and financial value to iPods, recent or vintage.
After three weeks of evaluating trends, the measured effect on prices is fairly limited: 5th, 6th, and 7th generation iPod touch have experienced a 10-15% drop in resale values; older iPod touch, like other non-touch iPod models, have kept residual values - admittedly fairly low - roughly constant.