According to Sun Microsystem's Chief Executive Scott McNealy, the iPod as we know it today is doomed. In an article posted by Cnet, McNealy said that while the iPod has served its purpose and experienced much sucess, in the next few years it will be replaced by other alternatives.

One of those, which he pointed to directly, is the advent of storing music on networks that can be accessed by cell phones. He proves his point by saying, "Your iPod is like your home answering machine. It's a temporary thing," McNealy said at a panel discussion featuring reminiscences by Sun's four cofounders at the Computer History Museum here. "It's going to be hard to sell a lot of iPods five years from now when every cell phone is going to be able to automatically access your library wherever you are."

This coming from a man who previously praised Apple for its considerable successes in the creation and marketing of the iPod, using the term 'iPod Moment' in marking goals for his own company. According to the article, Sun Microsystem has an interest in Apple's demise, as it looks toward those networking solutions as becoming a part of its own company.

[Via, Cnet]