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Apple Ceases Development of 'AirPort' Wireless Routers as Engineers Reassigned to Other Products
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Yes, one ring, ah, I mean 1 connection to rule them all.
Like Apple would willing give up the extra cash it gets by requiring the purchase of Apple proprietory cables and/or licensing.
I had already switched over to Chromecast Audio for streaming music throughout the house but I'd still like there to be an Apple option. Buying speakers with Airplay built in tends to be expensive. I wish they'd put out an Airplay dongle type thing like the Airport Express but that doesn't skip as much and is cheaper than $100. I don't use the TV that much or I'd even consider an Apple TV for this. Music is life.
Could it not be argued that it is the iPhone which is way too successful, rather than Apple's other products which are not as successful as they should be. After all, try finding any other company with a product line which generates anywhere near as much revenue as the iPhone.
Even if the iPhone were to disappear overnight, Apple would still be insanely profitable.
Appleinsider (god bless 'em) has posted a list of router alternatives just for the mac for those feeling foresaken by Apple's apparent abandonment of Airport (Warning: those who have entomophobia should not click the link.) If nothing else, this page demonstrates exactly why Apple should stay in the router business because for a device that should be out in the open, that you really can't (or shouldn't) hide away, these things are U-G-L-Y
By the way I own the Asus equivalent of one of the routers listed and it's hardly any better than the AirPort Extreme in terms of performance, the UI is awful, geared mostly for tweakers, and IPv6 is turned off by default. Getting IPv6 to work is another story unto itself. Two extremes (one set as an extender) gave much better performance in my house.
By the way I own the Asus equivalent of one of the routers listed and it's hardly any better than the AirPort Extreme in terms of performance, the UI is awful, geared mostly for tweakers, and IPv6 is turned off by default. Getting IPv6 to work is another story unto itself. Two extremes (one set as an extender) gave much better performance in my house.
Cool story bro. Been using it since the 4S on a near daily basis and it's cut out on me maybe 2-3 times in all those years. Unlike Bluetooth audio, which across multiple phones and speaker systems rarely lasts 2-3 songs before getting glitchy or dropping.
Which brings me back to my earlier point about entitled users whining just because Apple doesn't make something that specifically meets their requirements. Like they are somehow the only customer that Apple is expected to cater to and nobody else.
Has there been any attempt at analysing just why apple might want to do such a thing? Other than "Wah wah. Apple is not making something I want any more. Apple is doomed! Tim Cook must go!"
We are at close to 800 replies here already. I can safely jump from the 1st to the last page well knowing what I have not missed. Deep, analytical discussion.
Yea I am almost done with Apple. I can give 2 ***** about iPhones. The Pixel looks better it's just love Mac OS. I am getting tired of how cocky they are like we can't buy other phones, tablets(iPad is worthless) or computers(not updating stuff for 2+ years is def an FU to buyers)
Says the guy who chimes in at 800 replies to complain about complaining. Wheres your contribution besides more of the same?
I understand the desire to focus but they are the largest company in the world. They don't have to look at the highest revenue generating products and only keep them. As long as it is generating profits it's ok. The value to the brand makes it worthwhile. If they want to beef up AI research then add more engineers. They don't need to internally reassign.
They are weird man. The fact is that they are taking a long time to put out ordinary products now. The pace of innovation appears to have passed them by. They really haven't output anything. How long before we call them out on this. You can't just say that it's hard and they worry about the details that other companies don't and then put out the same products. Do not tell me it takes 8 years to put out a coffee table book and then leave your airport router division as a part of history. Which is more focused? A coffee table book, which is the most non technical thing you have or a router which at least requires electricity? Don't leak that you have 800 people working on the camera of the iPhone and then let us down because it doesn't have the best camera. If Google is beating you with having 200 or 20,000 engineers then it doesn't matter. Results matter. You have stopped earning the right to tell us how much thought went into the products when google and others can pump out products that are as good as yours in the same time. Even a big time skeptic would say they are 90+% as good. The best reason to stay with Apple is privacy. Google is creepy but it's kind of sad that it's something that Apple doesn't make that makes many stay.
They are weird man. The fact is that they are taking a long time to put out ordinary products now. The pace of innovation appears to have passed them by. They really haven't output anything. How long before we call them out on this. You can't just say that it's hard and they worry about the details that other companies don't and then put out the same products. Do not tell me it takes 8 years to put out a coffee table book and then leave your airport router division as a part of history. Which is more focused? A coffee table book, which is the most non technical thing you have or a router which at least requires electricity? Don't leak that you have 800 people working on the camera of the iPhone and then let us down because it doesn't have the best camera. If Google is beating you with having 200 or 20,000 engineers then it doesn't matter. Results matter. You have stopped earning the right to tell us how much thought went into the products when google and others can pump out products that are as good as yours in the same time. Even a big time skeptic would say they are 90+% as good. The best reason to stay with Apple is privacy. Google is creepy but it's kind of sad that it's something that Apple doesn't make that makes many stay.
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Getting solid performance from mine. Both wired and wifi are delivering the same speeds. Couldn't be happier. Plus it looks really cool. Best home router I have ever owned (easily topping the Time Capsule).
I've never heard of someone carrying an Echo from room to room. You buy one for the kitchen, one for the living room, bedroom, etc.
And if you don't like the discussion you can retreat to your Mom's basement and no one will miss you....
Is this just 33 pages of over-reaction? Apple haven't necessarily discontinued the AirPort.
The article suggests the AirPort team have been moved to other areas.
Maybe that's because someone senior has decided the AirPort doesn't need to be updated for a couple of years so has moved those personnel elsewhere.
The AirPort is still for sale and may well be updated in the future.
The article suggests the AirPort team have been moved to other areas.
Maybe that's because someone senior has decided the AirPort doesn't need to be updated for a couple of years so has moved those personnel elsewhere.
The AirPort is still for sale and may well be updated in the future.
Yup. One does rather wonder what that many employees are actually doing.
If, well, the watchband crew is obviously busy.
Perhaps the router will become a function of Apple's hardware for the home, a device which allows you to access your devices with Siri? Time Capsule will be replaced with iCloud storage. When you files are on iCloud, they are always backed up.
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 news comes from a report by Bloomberg, who said Apple has been slowly shutting down the division over the past year and made the decision "to try to sharpen the company's focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue."
Currently, Apple sells three wireless routers, including the AirPort Express ($99), AirPort Extreme ($199), and AirPort Time Capsule ($299), but none of the devices have seen a refresh since 2013. A temporary stock shortage earlier in the year gave hope that a refresh of the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule was coming during WWDC, but Apple never mentioned the products during its keynote. The trio of wireless routers still remain available for purchase for the time being.
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. Apple includes its routers in the "other products" category of its annual financial results, a section which generated $11.1 billion in fiscal 2016, or about 5 percent of the company's total sales.
Article Link: Apple Ceases Development of 'AirPort' Wireless Routers as Engineers Reassigned to Other Products
Maybe it would take longer, what so 7.2GBS plus is a slight speed increase is it, let alone MU MIMO or teiple band or other next gen wireless features other routers have....
Yeah those multi GB hourly updates will only be a few seconds faster.... I bet you use a TimeCapsuele and don't even look at other routers right? I like your judgmental attitude too, it has zero effect, shame you don't know.
Perhaps you should take a look at these features, including wireless AD Which the TimeCapsule will never have now.
https://www.netgear.com/landings/ad7200/?cid=wmt_netgear_organic
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And how do you propose to connect said Apple TV box to your modem then? Considering it also has to connect to your TV. Not many homes have telephone sockets next to main TVs.
You forgot thinner and zero wired ports. Again, something nobody asked for. Get an Amplifi and 4k Chromecast instead.
Airplay works perfectly for me, as well...and I have also been using it for several years.
Nooooo, not the Airport! Such a beautiful device. Really first the displays and now that, it hurts. And yea, so does the SD card slot on the new mbP!
So because lots of users feel a product is now inferior (at least compared to the previous generation) because it has had features removed or is neutered just for the sake of form over function, are "whiners" and "entitled." Hmmm...ok...I've said it before, but, what you and some others call "whining" and being "entitled" I and others call being dissatisfied with a product and the company who makes it.
You already know why Apple does what they do. They want to keep high profit margins. The Mac Pro is three years old, with three year old technology, and the price is still the same. And that's just one example.
It doesn't take "deep analytical discussion" to see what Apple has been doing to plenty of their products and profit margins in recent years. They spew BS and expect their users to actually believe them...and evidently some do.
And provide a lot of people with only lower speed internet and/or low data caps with a cost effective alternative (ask Google how providing such a service is working for them, profit wise). Then they need to cover a significant part of the country with high speed cell service to match. And that's NOT a significant percentage of population, but physical land mass. People drive through areas with bad or no high speed access, even if they never ever live there. And once again, no data caps or throttling.
For the life of me, I don't understand why they couldn't add at least AirPort bridging and wireless extension functionality to the AppleTV.
Several people have suggested the same possibilities already. As for the first - fine if so, but there are no indications of something like that for now.
As for using iCloud as a main backup solution, at least three issues were pointed out:
1 There are few places in the world where Internet speed and stability will allow you to use hundreds of gigabytes of backups in the cloud with any efficiency, and even in those few places the primary backup in the local network will be faster so should be the first option.
2 The iCloud space is not very cheap, it comes at a subscription fee, unlike the local storage that you buy once.
3 With all the respect to Apple, they still don't have anything like real SLA for iCloud and they don't provide zero knowledge on their side, so iCloud is not the best place to store critical information.