Apple Sunset

iPod U2 Special Edition

Discontinued 5 Sept 2007

Released

Nov 2004

Announced

26 Oct 2004

Launch price from

$349

Discontinued

5 Sept 2007

Lifespan

2 years, 10 months

Category
iPod
Status
Discontinued
Apple support status
Obsolete (Apple no longer services it)
Release type
Refresh of an existing model
Official Apple page
No longer available on Apple’s website
Tech specs
Apple specs ↗
Press release
Apple Newsroom ↗
More information
iPod Classic on Wikipedia ↗

Notes

The iPod U2 Special Edition was a standard iPod in a black case with a red click wheel and the four band members’ signatures etched into the back. It cost $349 at launch, $50 more than the ordinary 20GB model, and nothing inside it was different.

Four versions were sold over three years, each shadowing whichever iPod was current: the click wheel model in 2004, a colour-screen version in June 2005, a video one in June 2006 and a revised video one that September, by which time the price had come down to $279. Apple dropped the last of them on 5 September 2007, the day the iPod classic was announced.

The premium narrowed as it went. Apple charged $50 over the standard model for the first iPod U2 Special Edition and $30 for each of the three that followed.

Buyers of the first one also got a poster and a $50 voucher towards U2’s digital box set on the iTunes Music Store, which was exactly what the black case had cost them.

It was announced on 26 October 2004 in San Jose, alongside a wider arrangement between Apple, the band and Universal Music. There were no pre-orders, and Apple said only that it was expected in shops in mid-November, priced from $349.

More in iPod

Release history

All iPod →

iPod release history

  1. 2014

  2. 9 Sept 2014

    iPod Classic 160GB (Late 2009) Discontinued

  3. ↑ about 5 years later
  4. 2009

  5. 9 Sept 2009

    iPod Classic 160GB (Late 2009) Released

    iPod Classic (120GB) Discontinued

  6. ↑ about 1 year later
  7. 2008

  8. 9 Sept 2008

    iPod Classic (120GB) Released

    iPod Classic Discontinued

  9. ↑ about 1 year later
  10. 2007

  11. 5 Sept 2007

    iPod Classic Released

    iPod (5th generation, Late 2006) Discontinued

    iPod U2 Special Edition Discontinued

  12. ↑ about 1 year later
  13. 2006

  14. 12 Sept 2006

    iPod (5th generation, Late 2006) Released

    iPod (5th generation, with Video) Discontinued

  15. ↑ about 1 year later
  16. 2005

  17. 12 Oct 2005

    iPod with Color Display Discontinued

  18. Oct 2005

    iPod (5th generation, with Video) Released

  19. ↑ 3 months later

  20. 28 Jun 2005

    iPod with Color Display Released

    iPod (4th generation, Click Wheel) Discontinued

    iPod Photo Discontinued

  21. ↑ 8 months later
  22. 2004

  23. Nov 2004

    iPod U2 Special Edition Released

  24. Oct 2004

    iPod Photo Released

  25. ↑ 2 months later

  26. 19 Jul 2004

    iPod (4th generation, Click Wheel) Released

    iPod (3rd generation, Dock Connector) Discontinued

  27. ↑ 1 year, 3 months later
  28. 2003

  29. 2 May 2003

    iPod (3rd generation, Dock Connector) Released

  30. 28 Apr 2003

    iPod (1st generation, Scroll Wheel) Discontinued

    iPod (2nd generation, Touch Wheel) Discontinued

  31. ↑ 9 months later
  32. 2002

  33. Aug 2002

    iPod (2nd generation, Touch Wheel) Released

  34. ↑ 9 months later
  35. 2001

  36. 10 Nov 2001

    iPod (1st generation, Scroll Wheel) Launch

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