MUMBAI: Though Apple's iPods put music, movies, games, and more in the palm of your hand, the technology giant Apple has seen the lowest quarterly sales of its music player in the previous three months and it has been the lowest sales since 2006, media reports.

The drop in the sales of iPod has created fears for music industry as it aimed the iPod to boost the download industry. The sales figures for the quarter till the end of June suggest that 9 million units of iPod were sold in that period which is the lowest number since 2006.

The iPod, launched in October 2001, looks to be in terminal decline. Apple is unworried as the sales of its iPhone and iPad are booming - but the drooping figures for the digital music player market are a concern for another sector, music companies.

The music industry is worried that people may lose their interest in downloading songs from the digital music stores as iPod drives people to buy music in download form, whether from Apple's iTunes music store or from newer competitors such as Amazon. The problem for them is that digital music sales are only growing as fast as those of Apple's devices.

At the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a spokesman agreed that the growth of digital sales has slowed. Figures for 2009 released this year show that while CD sales fell by 12.7 per cent, losing $US 1.6 billion in value, digital downloads only grew by 9.2 per cent, gaining less than $US 400 million in value.

As iPod sales slow, digital music sales are likely to slow too, as stated in reports. The iPod has been the key driver: the federation's figures show no appreciable digital download sales until 2004, the year Apple launched its iTunes music store internationally (it launched it in the US in April 2003).

Since then, international digital music sales have climbed steadily, exactly in line with the total sales of iPods and iPhones. Apple has much more profitable fish to fry, in the form of TV shows and films, apps and ebook sales to its iPhone and iPad. It gets 30 per cent of the sale price on apps and ebooks, roughly the same as it does on music download sales, but those sales are expanding exponentially, while music downloads are not.

Experts suggest Apple needs to refresh its iPod in order to attract people towards it.