Lovers of the classic iPod click wheel, that disturbance in the Force you just felt was Apple stealthily removing compatible games from the iTunes Store -- a move that only adds fuel to the burning rumors that the iPod classic may meet its 10th anniversary by being tossed into the grave.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has quietly removed iPod click wheel games from the iTunes Store. If you recall, the classic iPod models with a click wheel have had their own small-screen games available since 2006 -- foreshadowing what would come only two years later with the iOS App Store.
Following the debut of the App Store, Apple clumsily tossed the click wheel games onto the bottom of the heap, most recently as the absolute last entry on a pulldown menu for the App Store in iTunes. While it’s not entirely surprising that the category has vanished -- after all, there were only around 50 titles available and most of them were overpriced at $7.49 compared to comparable titles for iOS -- the news comes on the heels of rumors that the iPod classic may meet its end this year, despite former CEO Steve Jobs’ insistence otherwise.
Of course, some optimists might see the glass as half full -- perhaps Apple plans to inject some new life into the iPod classic by adding iOS, a touchscreen and the ability to tap into the App Store ecosystem, bringing the media player in line with the iPod touch but keeping the higher capacity storage of a hard disk (currently 160GB, which is nearly 100GB more than the biggest iPod touch model).
iPod click wheel games were released by Apple and other major publishers such as Electronic Arts, Square Enix and Disney, despite a publicly available software development kit being available. The classic game “Brick” -- originally invented by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak -- was included as a hidden Easter egg right from the very first iPod, and more games followed after the media player gained a color display.
The classic click wheel iPod celebrates its 10th anniversary in October, with most rumors pointing to few changes to the more widely used iPod touch. Apple will host a media event on Tuesday, October 4 at 10am PST in Cupertino which takes the place of the company’s traditional September iPod event.
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paulold
September 30, 2011 at 6:49am
Good. I just hope Apple will be releasing a high capacity alternative (like a 160 GB iPod Touch). Have you used a click wheel lately? I find them annoying to use these days.
