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Apple Ceases Development of 'AirPort' Wireless Routers as Engineers Reassigned to Other Products

The Airport might not be a big money-maker but it is a doorway to the ecosystem. I may not be typical, but i started with and AirportExtreme, and liked how easy it was to use so much, I then got the Express (2), an iPad, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and 4 MacBook Air's. But I guess Tim never made the connection between attracting customers with a relatively inexpensive device as a bridge to sales of more expensive products. The only thing I don't have is an iPhone. But seeing the direction Apple is going, I won't be buying one in the future. Bad decisions have ruined more than one company and Tim is wasting no time dismantling the Apple ecosystem experience. A few more dips in iPhone sales and they'll have to hit that big savings account bigly.
 
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zorinlynx said:
A couple weeks ago, I got curious when I heard Apple had enabled Time Machine over SMB officially, so I tried to create a Time Machine backup volume on my Samba fileserver. It did not work; the system did not make the volume available for Time Machine.

So no, it doesn't necessarily work. Perhaps Apple whitelisted some NAS devices on the market and it'll work with them, but for my Linux file server running Samba it was a no-go.

I didn't spend too much time trying to get it to work, since I have my Time Capsule... but now that I know TC will be discontinued maybe I'll put more time into it. I'll follow up on this thread if I get it working. :)

EDIT: Oops I misread your post; you said Airplay not TM backups. No, Airplay works over any router. However, what I typed is still relevant to Time Machine users so I'll leave it up. :)
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Glad you kept this up. I'll be very interested in seeing the results of your research into the backup thing. I don't use wireless backup myself (my iMac has a direct ethernet connection to TC) but….I plan to buy a MacBook sooner or later, so that wireless backup info will suddenly get interesting.

In the meantime, thank you for confirming the Airplay deal.
 
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Brenster said:
Although not explicitly stated, I'm assuming this is the end of Time Capsule. Pretty much the last reason to opt for a mac in my house. Been using a 1GB Time Capsule for wifi and automatically, interaction free backups for the two mac laptops in my house for years. Saved our bacon more than once and have always loved the way it will backup a closed, sleeping MacBook air/MBP whilst they're charging over night.

If there are no new Time Capsules forthcoming and Apple, as it seems, believes iCloud Drive/Photo Library/Music library is the answer for the future, then combined with the latest laptop lineup and it seems Apple and I have reached the end of the line as far as a full computer is concerned. Their phone lineup still trumps the competition, but the laptop line costs serious money for a retina display AND non Core M CPU. If first party Time Machine/Time Capsule support is going there is little to no reason to stay.
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Yes, the Time Capsule is going. It's an Airport Extreme with a hard drive built-in. They'll sell you some extra icloud storage for your backups and send you a bill every month.
 
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Is there a faster wifi frequency than ac right now? Whenever there is would probably be the time for me to upgrade router.

Either way this sucks, because I'm going to hate changing to a third party router for all my apple products.
 
thefredelement said:
That's interesting, I think there is some notion of having the Apple TV handle it - but maybe a more focused device is in order.
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Siri on Apple TV isn't comparable to any Google or Amazon assistant in any way. It's accesses a completely different database of data and requires the user to hold a button down the entire time they talk. The only killer feature of virtual assistants is the hands-free ability to command them. Otherwise they are largely useless right now.
 
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indychris said:
... As long as we'll continue to pay monthly subscription fees for everything, including music and iCloud backups, why in the world would they shoot themselves in the foot by offering a reliable piece of equipment that doesn't bring in guaranteed monthly income to Cupertino...
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They could be making something like this: http://www.bitdefender.com/box/ or this: https://www.checkpoint.com/products/700-security-appliances/

Probably, something more configurable and featureful than the first and something less "enterprise" and expensive than the second. A comprehensive home and small business network-and-devices router and security solution with a firewall/antivirus/IPS/good categorized URL filter/security agents on devices/VPN and mobile devices protection on the go and... a yearly subscription to keep all those things up to date. May be even with TC and TV included - and a utility to set it all up from your phone.

But that is far beyond their reach now. And they have more serious things to care about - like smileys )))
 
Crippling the Time Capsule with a USB2 port, and not giving iOS a way to access any media on it, was irritating but understandable given the limited product scope at the time, when it seemed like every Apple Product was 85% of the way done upon release. But instead of doing the last 15% or even 10% of the job, and improving the scope into something truly useful and powerful, they abandon it completely?

I've never seen a company voluntarily self-destruct one piece at a time like this before.
I wonder how long it goes on before the board says enough is enough and flushes the leadership.
 
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JaySoul said:
Not in the UK. They just give you them. You keep them. In fact, they pile up.
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I concur with that, I have a:

BT HomeHub 1.5
BT HomeHub 2.0A
BT HomeHub 3.0A
BT HomeHub 3.0B
BT HomeHub 4.0A
BT HomeHub 5.0A x2
BT SmartHub aka HomeHub 6.0A

and all of them suck compared to my TP-Link Archer C9.

The BT SmartHub should wipe the floor with my C9 as its wave 2 802.11Ac @ 1700Mb/s compared to 802.11Ac wave 1 @ 1300Mb/s but the C9 has far better software.
The SmartHub DHCP and UPnP was broken meaning my devices would often be assigned duff IP addresses and even if they were connected they wouldn't see each other properly so AirPlay and Sky Q were very hit and miss, but with the C9 the stability is rock solid.
 
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Nooooooooooooo the Airport routers are the best routers to ever exist. They never go down, never need rebooting, the best range, the best speed.

This F@&$ing sucks
 
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lockhartt said:
They'd better do it very quickly then, because Amazon's Echo (with Alexa) is rapidly devouring that market space. And, as much as it pains me to say so, deservedly so. Amazon got voice-controlled AI right, and makes Siri look dated and failing - sorry, dear, age takes it's toll :)

I can't tell you how many times I cursed Siri for completely misinterpreting my instructions - only to have it promptly misinterpret my cursing and do something else I didn't want - like starting a FaceTime call with my neighbor Kyle when I called it an effing piece of crap. Still funny every time I think about it (no offense, Kyle), but very sad at the same time.

Truth be told, I no longer bother with Siri at this point... it's become more efficient NOT to use it.

So, I'd gladly support such a universal hub (though not without moaning about the fact that I just replaced both my Apple TVs for the new models this year), but it would have to work well and it needs to be soon or face impenetrable market dominance by Amazon.

The prevalence of iOS devices dictates that Apple should rapidly and aggressively pursue such a device (or line of devices), but I'm not sure what they're thinking these days.
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I have two Echo Dots and they are better for using around the house. However, I think Siri is pretty good these days. It works well for controlling Hue Bulbs and iDevices around the house. It works great with Apple Music. It works great for setting reminders and alarms. The reason I mainly use Echos at home is because anyone can access them and they can add skills (like working with JRiver media center and SimpleControl). I don't want just anyone accessing stuff of my iPhone, so a stand alone Siri product would need some sort of privacy feature built in or would need to be limited compared to Siri on the iPhone (it would be limited to some extent because she often sends you to a webpage).

It will be interesting to see if Apple approaches this with Bluetooth or if they use Airplay. Might as well stick with Amazon Echos if they go with Bluetooth.
 
So, should I get an Airport Extreme on the cheap when it's on sale, or something else? Google Wifi around the apartment perhaps – or something more powerful?

I currently have a 2011 TimeCapsule and I don't need the backup storage anymore since I have a NAS for that.
 
avanpelt said:
It wouldn't surprise me if they integrate the AirPort/Time Capsule into the Apple TV at some point. That especially makes sense from the standpoint of enabling DVR functionality on the Apple TV down the road if they can ever get the agreements in place to have live TV available en masse on the Apple TV.
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And they will increase the price accordingly
 
jimmirehman said:
Nooooooooooooo the Airport routers are the best routers to ever exist. They never go down, never need rebooting, the best range, the best speed.

This F@&$ing sucks
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I've had to reboot mine several times. My new linksys 7400 router has been flawless.
 
A shame, Apple's airport base stations have been my defacto choice and recommendation to anyone looking to set up wi-fi. I'm currently using a 1st generation Airport Express as I left my current model Airport with my parents when I moved out so I guess I'll have to pick up an Extreme shortly before they become nigh-impossible to find.
 
Revenue > Products

This is a bad move as 3rd party routers aren't easy to use for the less tech savvy and free routers included with broadband are even worse or just don't have settings you need to do tech savvy things. While I personally didn't go the airport route it certainly is a mistake if you aren't simplifying the router pinch point. Maybe it's just temporary whilst wifi AC is at a relative standstill.
 
Winterflags said:
So, should I get an Airport Extreme on the cheap when it's on sale, or something else? Google Wifi around the apartment perhaps – or something more powerful?

I currently have a 2011 TimeCapsule and I don't need the backup storage anymore since I have a NAS for that.
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Get one of the linksys 3 stream routers. I have one and it's very stable and fast.
 
Traverse said:
No more routers, no more displays. They really aren't a "computer" company any more - at least in the traditional sense.


I have an airPort. It's been good for the past 6 years. I was thinking about a Time Capsual, but ow well.
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Time Capsule will be most unnecessary one the new AFS is in play, probably by the next major OS release. I have 3 Time Capsules and think they're great but they were never a real solution and more of a stopgap until the file system was finally fixed and addressed these issues. Besides, they have already begun to push OS data into iCloud for storage. Local storage isn't necessary for 99% of users.
 
tampageek said:
AirPlay is proprietary, so you'll have to spend $149 for an TV if you want to keep using it. That sucks
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There are tons of third party products that use it. Many are inexpensive and also support DLNA. The thing I am more afraid of is iOS not supporting Airplay in the future.
 
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alexgowers said:
Revenue > Products

This is a bad move as 3rd party routers aren't easy to use for the less tech savvy and free routers included with broadband are even worse or just don't have settings you need to do tech savvy things. While I personally didn't go the airport route it certainly is a mistake if you aren't simplifying the router pinch point. Maybe it's just temporary whilst wifi AC is at a relative standstill.
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That's not true. The new smart wifi routers from Linksys are pretty easy to setup.
 
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