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Apple Dropping "AirPort" for "Wi-Fi"

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Not all the updates in Lion are huge, world-altering features, but for those switching from Windows to Mac, this one might make life a little easier. Apple appears to be dropping "Airport" from its preferred vocabulary, instead adopting the more widespread "Wi-Fi".

airportwifi-beforeafter.jpg
Left: Snow Leopard, Right: Lion​
Apple Stores have been running low on AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule wireless base stations recently and new devices have been anticipated for several weeks. It is possible that a name change will accompany a product refresh.

Wi-Fi has been the preferred term for wireless internet connectivity for most of the tech world , and, notably, iOS applications, for a long time, but AirPort has been Apple's name for the various 802.11 standards since 1999 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iBook with Wi-Fi capabilities.

The AirPort name has never really been used outside Apple, but the term Wi-Fi has become more and more popular over the years and it seems Apple has finally acquiesced to popular vernacular.

Thanks Oded!

Article Link: Apple Dropping "AirPort" for "Wi-Fi"
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/13/apple-dropping-airport-for-wi-fi/
Slix

Slix

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2010
1,441
1,989
It makes sense. Though, what happens to all those Air Port base stations and such? Would their names be changed too, eventually?
 
rorschach

rorschach

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2003
2,272
1,856
Lion does use "AirPort" when referring to the AirPort base station (as in "AirPort Utility").

It makes sense, though. AirPort is the name of one Wi-Fi base station; there are many others. It's been...how many years since Apple stopped selling AirPort Cards and built them into all their computers?
 
O

odedia

macrumors 65816
Nov 24, 2005
1,044
149
I think "Airport Extreme" might be dead... Perhaps they move to some naming like "iCloud Hub" or "iCloud Base Station"
 
ratzzo

ratzzo

macrumors 6502a
Apr 20, 2011
829
35
Madrid
To the average user, this will solve a lot of questions. When my uncle got a MBP he didn't really know how to enable Wi Fi.. "what's this airport you speak of?" heh.. good times :D
 
A

Andy-V

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2007
413
594
I guess I always thought of it as Apple's brand for Wi-Fi. But this move makes sense.
 
Sodner

Sodner

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,112
78
Pittsburgh, PA
I hope the "shortage" of the Airport hardware is not just due to repackaging / rebranding. I was hoping for a hardware refresh.
 
Icaras

Icaras

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2008
6,344
3,393
odedia said:
I think "Airport Extreme" might be dead... Perhaps they move to some naming like "iCloud Hub" or "iCloud Base Station"
Click to expand...

I don't think so. If so, where's the motivation to create complimentary brand names such as "AirPlay" and "AirPrint"?

The "Extreme" part seems unimportant though. Apple should drop the "Extreme" from the main unit and rename Airport Express to the new "Airport Mini". :D
 
K

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
Icaras said:
I don't think so. If so, where's the motivation to create complimentary brand names such as "AirPlay" and "AirPrint"?
Click to expand...

They range across all iOS devices.

AirPort is restricted to the Mac, and something only Mac users know. Not all iOS users are Mac users.

AirPlay is marketed more than AirPort - see the iPad ads for example. Also, AirPlay is something cool so people will remember it, AirPort is just a fancy name for WiFi, something that's nothing new.
 
B

bassjunkie

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2007
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Leighton Buzzard, UK
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'd like to know how to do this too please!?
 
B

bassjunkie

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2007
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Leighton Buzzard, UK
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

uk1simon said:
Off the subject a little bit, how do you get that data usage info, next to the wi-fi symbol?
Click to expand...

I'd like to know this too please
 
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