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This wouldn't be so worrying if they have a partner they are working with, like on the 5K LG monitors, to produce something that works as well as the Extreme/Time Capsule (which in my experience, is one seriously stable router). I'm tempted to rush out and buy a new one now having read this, y'know, just in case.

I'm with you here, Sure there are other things we can use but these things work great.
 
Just saw this, it seems like engineers worked on routers have been redeployed to other teams: http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...ision-apparently-signaling-the-end-of-airport

I have been thinking for some time that it is strange for Apple not to have release an AC version of the airport express and not to have updated the airport extreme after 3.5 years (previous update cycles have been quite shorter), so I tend to think this rumour makes sense.

If this correct I will regret the AirPort product line. I like those products very much as for me they have been very stable, and their compact size combined with internal antennas and power supply makes them much sleeker and tidier than "regular" routers in my opinion.

If this is going forward I would also wonder what the plan is for Time Machine. The technology was released alongside the Time Capsule and while it works Apple never really promoted its use with third-party hardware. If the Time Capsule is going, Time Machine might follow the same route in a future release of macOS (and I wouldn't be surprised if Apple tried to push a new iCloud online backup service as an alternative, which might or might not please Time Capsule users).
 
Now this is sad. I know Airports were never the greatest routers on the market but they were very reliable, setup and forget and they looked nicer compared to some of the alien-esque items on offer I'd rather not have on display (look like toys from a teenagers Transformers shelf!)

I think unfortunately we're seeing the streamlining of products from a company that makes so much from the iPhone it seems to foolish to spend resources on things like the Mac Pro, Mac mini and Airport. It's sad - i'm glad they made the iPad Pro 12" which is a niche device in reality, and they should make more niche products but I know myself when you run a business and 90% of your revenue comes from doing something and 10% comes from doing something else that takes almost just as many resources it's insane to carry on that way.

This unfortunately is the sad consequence of a single ridiculously successful device.
 
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.
 
Apple need to not only focus more on their computers but they also need to make a proper 'Pro' line of computers, desktops and laptops. They need to partner with Nvidia and make a serious Mac Pro with long term upgradability, they need to make a Mac version of the Lenovo P70 or similar workstation laptops.

I don't think iPhones need that much focus, they've pretty much reached a plateau for now. Nothing game changing is coming soon in mobile.

Force Touch/Haptics, AR, and computational photography seem pretty game changing to me in the long run.
 
Deos Apple really have to focus so much? I thought that when you're so big, you can afford to run side-shows like this. Maybe they could at least have sold the product line to someone who wanted to move forward with it. Apple really does seem to be a mainstream-only company now - and I worry that it's almost a case of Pastor Niemoller again!
 
I'm not too surprised. AirPort and AirPlay were Steve Jobs style things and that's been slowly changing. It does make sense to keep closer to core competencies but as Apple moves more to being a consumer electronics company instead of a computer company I think their core will be forever different.

My AirPort works fine but I've already thought of dropping it. Maybe it's time and I can let my mom use the old AirPort...
 
Wise decision from Apple - used to have Apple one but now free routers I get given by broadband providers are excellent.

And not fully under your control. If you own your own router and mange it, the cable company doesn't have access to the internals of your network. Sure the provider sees the traffic in and out, but the can't get access to computers directly. You really trust your broadband provider that much?!? Not me.
 
Bearing in mind the importance of backups to Pro users (and everyone else to be fair), especially the new MBP with no way to extract the Disk storage in the event of a failure, this just sounds crazy with no alternative lined up by Apple. OK they were comparatively expensive, but they worked pretty much seamlessly. Just WTH are they doing in all of these R&D centres?
 
They are actually supporting Time Machine over SMB 3 since Sierra.
This. Time Machine never really needed Time Capsule to do wireless backup, the difficulty has always been OS X not working particularly well with non afp servers. And then even Time Capsule's methodology is quite wonky anyway (sparsebundles...)

Airplay on the other hand will still be on Apple TVs. And I believe the audio segment of it is licensable and is commonly found in AV receivers and networked speakers etc.
 
Not feeling bad about the dead of the TC; still have two malfunctioned instances in my shelfs. No tears.

But my AirPort Extreme works extreme well. It would be missed. It is so smooth integrated, a nice orange light tell me: please update me. Start my iDevices, remote connect in a beautiful designed app and update with a click. Was a nice UX.

Never saw that from a netgear ....
 
For me, an improved Airport Extreme (with Siri integration, better range and possibly with sensors like temperature, humidity, air quality) would be the perfect hub for Homekit.

Not the Apple TV which in most cases could be hidden inside a media center furniture...

It's getting difficult to understand Apple these days...
 
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