Tech Rundown: Will The Wii U Survive 2014?,Apple Says iPod Dying, Google Pulls Snapchat Apps [VIDEO]

The Wii U is dying a slow, painful death. Or that’s what the latest numbers would have you believe. Despite the strong software sales Nintendo saw over the holidays, fiscal reports have shown that Nintendo sold just under two million Wii Us around Christmas of 2013; Nintendo sold three million when the console launched at the end of 2012.

So that’s it and that’s all, folks. Pack your bags, Nintendo, good show, keep your chin up, you’ll get ‘em next time. Well, not quite - numbers rarely tell the whole story. Besides, we already knew the Wii U had a bad year. But let’s not dig the grave just yet. As I’ve said before, 2014 will make -- or break -- the Wii U. There’s a slew of promising games slated for release this year, and if Nintendo figures out that their lack of marketing needs to be rectified, they may yet save the console. See one of those games, Donkey Country: Tropical Freeze below:

Onto something that’s definitely dying - the iPod. It’s not dying because there’s another major MP3 competitor, it’s dying because most people don’t need them anymore. Consider how popular smartphones are these days -- regardless of which operating system you’re running, the odds are you’ve got a music playing app. As we’ve entered the age of expandable phone storage, there’s less need to carry around an extra device for music.

Truth be told, I still use my tank iPod Classic every day and I’ve no plans to replace it, especially at the gym -- if it drops on the floor or I get sweat on it, it’s not going to break. My phone...that’s a bit more fragile -- but sales of new units have dropped in accordance with Apple’s own plan to cannibalize the iPod. Say what you want about Apple, but their plan has worked.

Now, to Apple’s chief competitor. Google has pulled the plug on a group of third-party Snapchat apps in the Play Store. The main draw of Snapchat itself is that the pictures you send disappear automatically - the third party apps allowed you to save the pictures sent to you without the other person knowing. That compromised user privacy, but that might not be the only reason the apps were removed -- other third-party Snapchat applications still remain online. Also, the applications in question have not been removed from the iOS App Store, which is a bit curious -- and it’s fuel for the rumor that Google wants to buy Snapchat.