It's 10 years since the original iPod shuffled on to the scene, changing the way we listen to and buy music for good. But could it soon be time to hang up our white headphones? Johnny Davis reports. Monday lunchtime at the world's largest Apple Store in London's Covent Garden and Georgina Evans, visiting from Bath in south-west England for a day's shopping, is trying to score some cred points with her daughter Emily. "I want to see how competent I am," she says, jabbing the screen of an iPhone 4. "Put it down," tuts her husband, Andrew. "You're not."

Across the cavernous chambers of the Grade II-listed building similar human-technology interactions are taking place. At other tables, as in any of Apple's 300-plus stores worldwide, tourists check their emails and update their Facebook pages. Like everything else Apple does, its store layouts are ruthlessly designed. Pricey laptops and desktops by the door to lure you in, then iPads, then iPhones, then iPod Touches. The only table not occupied by a small cluster of people prodding, touching and fondling the technology is right at the back, in the store's depths. It's the table with the iPods on it. The iPod Classic, as the famous scroll-wheel design is now known, hasn't been updated now since September 2009, with a modest capacity jump from 120GB to 160GB. On the Apple Online Store, shipping times have slipped from 24 hours to 1-3 day in the UK. Across the US, several major retailers have reported short supplies, leading to speculation the device may soon be discontinued. It didn't even warrant a mention at Apple's annual Developers Conference in 2010. "The iPod's essentially finished, give or take," says Dr Alice Enders, a former senior economist at the World Trade Organisation who now reports on global music markets for media consultancy Enders Analysis. "Sales have been in decline for some time.