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

JaySoul said:
Well, hello shiny new Google Wifi...

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I'm in. My whole house will become Google world then since Apple is seemingly throwing in every single towel.

For the first time I'm actually legitimately pissed off at an Apple product choice. I recognize the iPod Classic had to die, and I don't miss the Hi-Fi or Apple displays, but wow... The inhumane MacBook Pro slaughter and now this?

I'm ready to say screw Apple. Seriously. Never thought I would... Tim will be running it in to the ground without focus. They’re going to put all their eggs in the mobile basket. As my Apple tech dies I’m jumping - I’m not going down with the sinking proprietary ship.

Last line of this article, Apple will be pulling AirPort to focus on iPhone. Very next article, Apple rolls out iPhone display repair program. Really?

This was legitimately shocking. I expected a refresh. I'll be enjoying my Time Capsule until it dies. Google, here I come.
 
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:( Dang, I was a little bit disappointed when they "got out of the display business" but this REALLY SUCKS. Apple's routers might not have the craziest specs, but they're super reliable.
 
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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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But easy to configure routers don't hurt Apple's bottom line at all. If you can't connect to the internet, you don't buy competing hardware or services over Apple's products. Sometimes I wish it wasn't true but it's not Apple's job to get the world onto the internet and make life outside of Apple easy. They are only tasked with making life easy within Apple's ecosystem.
 
weaverra said:
I've had to reboot mine several times. My new linksys 7400 router has been flawless.
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If they are getting out of the router business, they could just do what they did with the Cinema display (teaming up with LG).

They could just team up with Cisco or Belkin.

.
 
verpeiler said:
So much courage…

But seriously, this is really sad. Computers aren't Apple's focus anymore.
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Steve Jobs made this so clear over 5 years ago when he announced that "computer" was officially removed from their name. Not sure why people are still surprised they don't focus on computers.
 
tampageek said:
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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I have a question for creative pros who work with raw video and photos-ie those that are in the 10-15 or more GB range. How do you back up and are you willing to have your only backup be sending them to the cloud, and even with a extremely high upload speed having restoration take a long time, as well as, you know something like an internet outage happens?
 
tf_dc said:
If I will be deprived of the opportunity to quickly check surrounding WiFi channels/SSIDs/RSSI/MAC with a thing I always have with me, I will probably look for another phone despite all the pleasure of having a phone, a watch, a tablet and a laptop working together nicely.
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Oh, but it takes courage to do things that only Apple could do! :D

This is what they are up to, annoying their actual user base that has bought into the whole real Apple ecosystem than just people with iPhones buying into their app-system.
 
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dylin said:
Couldn't have said it better myself. Reading about how they aren't going to work on any of the airport devices because "not enough money is being brought in" shows that Tim Cook is only about numbers and not customer appreciation.
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There's a thing called loss leader. If you don't think that kind of marketing works, you haven't been to a tiny little company called WalMart.
 
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I'm sure Apple would rather push people to using iCloud for all their data backup instead of Time Capsule so they can mine it for marketing info and charge people ridiculous fees for a few GB of extra storage space. Most people just use the router their ISP provides anyways limiting the potential customer base. Overall, it is a market with really slim margins for them.

The problem comes down to how they handle the growing market of voice controlled assistant devices. Do they release a gimped AppleTV, removing the HDMI port, replacing it with a 3.5mm port :rolleyes:, and call it AppleMusic? (or something silly like AppleBeatsBox, or AppleHi-Fi :p)
 
Cuban Missles said:
I would recommend you look at the eero https://eero.com/ website to see how the mesh network works. I would then look at the sonos http://www.sonos.com/en-us/home. They have wifi speakers and a product called connect that will allow you to connect your old hifi system. None of it is cheap to be sure, but after much research this is what I went with and it has worked perfectly. I set it up in August and have yet to have a hiccup.
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I would definitely recommend the eero to anyone considering an alternative to the AirPort Extreme. It's very easy to use, has a very similar feature set, and is also very attractive looking. Plus, their phone support is stellar if you have any questions during setup. I replaced my AirPorts with the eero recently and have found it to be an excellent alternative so far.
 
Definitely not looking forward to debugging why my mac won't airplay to 1 out of 3 of my apple tvs when I'm forced in the future to replace my airports with some combination of third-party routers, access points, and bridges to support newfangled 802.11bq (or whatever the newest thing will be in a few years).
 
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FFS! You really expect me to buy a Linksys router or similar crap going forward? Guess I'll have to buy the current one (my existing is the last one before the annoying form factor redesign) and hold on to it forever. Screw you Apple!
 
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Apple is blowing it.

As an Apple nerd, I DON"T WANT TO BUY OTHER PRODUCTS. I don't care how much or little this particular product makes them, I don't want to go outside of the Apple ecosystem. I don't want a google product or something else to solve this problem for me. I want all of my 6 macbooks, 5 iphones, apple tvs, 4 ipads and other things to stay within the Apple designed and controlled eco-system. Other companies won't get it.

Billions of dollars of revenue is no small matter. They should embrace and continue to do these "other products" so that I continue to buy Apple iPhones and computers...

Same thing to be true of the Thunderbolt display. I want a retina-desktop display from Apple, not from LG.
 
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How exactly do they expect back-ups? Are they moving to iCloud Time Machine options? Or are they removing iCloud as well?
Its like what is next?
 
I'm currently using Mac Pro and other Apple products, but if they are transitioning out by ending certain products slowly...I guess I would seek other companies.

It appears Apple is not a long term based company.
 
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Dear Tim,

Hearing rumors of AirPort and Time Capsule facing elimination from Apple's product offering. I think this is a mistake, as they contribute to the overall ease of use of the Apple ecosystem, even if they don't to the bottom line.

iCloud backup will never be the end-all-be-all. What will one do, if one has to restore > 512 GB of data? It would take weeks for most people restoring from iCloud, CrashPlan, iDrive, etc.

Yours,

Dominik Hoffmann
 
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Too bad, they are the only routers I use. Everything else I've tried to use like Netgear or Linksys is junk.

On the other hand they don't really need to change anything about it until the next greatest WiFi technology is ready.
 
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Good. Now offer a compelling iCloud TimeMachine option. Like 1TB of backup for $0.99 / month. I'll take that over any new hardware based solution.
 
MacRumors said:



Apple has dissolved its division which develops wireless routers and is now sending engineers who worked on the AirPort lineup into other product teams, including one currently working on Apple TV...The central reason for abandoning the AirPort line appears to focus mainly on its small revenue gains in comparison to the company's more lucrative products, like the iPhone.
Click to expand...

Well if you let this stuff rot on the shelf for years and years I guess revenue isn't going to exactly increase over time. The Airport Express is still wireless n.

I have two a/c Extremes that provide good coverage in my house with excellent download speeds. I've tried other routers and they all basically stink in comparison. Weaker coverage and/or diminished download speeds and/or no ipv6 connection and generally horrid UI for set/up management. Mesh routers seem like the next big thing but offerings are underwhelming so far (I've tried one).
 
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