Steadily declining sales of Apple’s MP3 player iPod are prompting many to think that the music device will soon be on its deathbed.

Sales of the iPod peaked at 22.7 million in December 2008, but they have been reporting a steady decline since then, with 7.2 per cent decline in the recent quarter.

Though, Cupertino-based gadget maker Apple still owns 70 per cent of the whole MP3 player market, yet it is apparent that the iPod is losing ground to smartphones and tablets as these mobile devices are capable of doing every job that iPod can do.

In order to safeguard the iPod, Apple revamped it’s the music device in September last year by giving the iPod Touch some features that were unique event to the iPhone 4 at that time, such as FaceTime.

Rumors have been swirling for long that the Cupertino firm would discontinue one or more iPod models, but it has not happened so far.

Meanwhile, Apple has released a software update to address a hole that can be used by cyber criminals to hack into the company’s iOS-based devices, including iPhone and the iPod.