21 gun salute – the iPod Classic has left the building.

As 9to5Mac report, Apple’s pioneering iPod Classic mp3 player has been quietly bumped off. The product, which first hit the market in 2004, has been entirely removed from Apple’s new-look online store.

The iPod Classic has been a dead man walking for some time: the product hasn’t been updated since 2008, and Apple attempted (and failed) to discontinue the design back in 2010. Sales have continued to dip in the interim.

The decision means the de facto end of the Apple clickwheel, with touchscreen devices now the norm. The Classic was also the last remaining 30-pin device in the Apple catalogue.

Dewy-eyed? Consequence of Sound point towards this gallery of the Classic’s development over the years.