Apple Officially Cancels AirPower

[bbednarz]

“wireless”

Were really still doing this?

 

[jsalda]

The majority of the people here don’t actually seemed to understand that AirPower was not a charging mat that only has three stationery coils, each for one product to be placed specifically at where the coil is. You were supposed to be able to charge it no matter which part of the Airpower mat you placed your device on.

THIS!

I’m 10 pages into the comments and everyone is like, “how hard is it? This product is doing it!”

No they aren’t. All current products have THREE specific areas, one for each product. Apple was promising a flat mat that you could drop the device(s) anywhere and they would charge. The embarrassment is not that they couldn’t figure it out, but that they announced it two years ago and couldn’t make it work.

Someday, someone will figure it out.

 

[PickUrPoison]

And I just canceled my new gen2 AirPods.

Nice! AirPods are awesome, but who would want to have to charge them without using Apple’s (non-existent) $150 charging mat? Good call

 

[sinsin07]

snip...The draw of airpower was wirelessly charging 3 individual devices on one single pad. That's it.

You should do more research 'cause you don't know what you're talking about.
Your statement above wasn't the draw of the Airpower.

 

[bbednarz]

Enough has been said, but what a blunder... This would have never fly in the past. They made so much noise about a product they haven't even figured out yet. It really undermines Apple's technological prowess in my mind. I will question new products more now and will be less likely to be an early adaptor...

Why? They didn't release the product because it didn't meet their standards. If anything this would make me gain confidence in Apple purchases because they are putting out a good product that was throughly tested.

 

[rmatosinhos]

April 1st arrived earlier this year

 

[sterlingindigo]

Jobs wouldn’t have allowed this fail.

 

[AppleScruff1]

It’s a positive that the didn’t release something that didn’t meet their expectations.

I haven’t read the entire thread, but I guess it’s safe to assume that the usual defenders are working overtime pretending they are happy about this and how we should all be thankful this was cancelled.

 

[bbednarz]

HAHAHA! YEAH! I actually stopped by an Apple Store and asked a “genius” about AirPower and then I was like, Oops LOL. And she was like all nice and said: The iPhone works with standard wireless charging pads and I was like: "Oh I know, because I’ve been using this feature for years with my Samsung.” Then I walked out. Awesome!

I would bet real money that you didn't do this.

 

[nouveau_redneck]

"wireless" Yeah right.

 

[symphony]

You realize how dumb that sounds? Lol.

Not at all. Some people do care. Are you sure you’re just tasteless? If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t judge, but you think it’s dumb, so I think it’s the latter?

 

[iBreatheApple]

“wireless”

Sorry, but how did you anticipate the mat would both obtain and provide power?

 

[bbednarz]

"wireless" Yeah right.

Were still doing this?

 

[Rogifan]

So, I don't work for Apple. I work closely with the marketing department at a Fortune 200 tech company.

Here's what I think.

• Schiller's team is responsible for determining what the consumers want and likely have a major say in what gets announced at keynotes
• John Gruber posted in September of 2018 that AirPods were "****ed" and multiple engineers at the company said it was impossible. His "little birdies" appeared to have "I told you so" moments.
• AirPower was announced in 2017 with a launch in 2018. I doubt Engineering made the decision to announce so early. That seems like something Marketing would dictate.
• While Dan Riccio made the announcements, I get the feeling he's safe in this and they just want someone in a place of prominence who didn't promise anything publicly to explain the situation.
• Last and probably not least, I feel that this situation is bad but not terrible because AirPower is an accessory. The problem is we're past peak Apple craze. Apple can't quietly bury announcements anymore.

I’ve often felt the most powerful person at Apple is Phil Schiller and I still believe it. I don’t think there is any product that gets designed, built, announced and released without his team being heavily involved. I know his title is marketing but from everything I’ve heard about his team they do way more than marketing. In fact I’ll bet naming, pricing, specs/storage configurations are approved by his team. I don’t see Schiller going anywhere until/unless he retires.

 

[AustinIllini]

This was a 'people getting their hopes up' for something that isn't real yet, thing.

For me personally a mind blown statement from Apple would be them discontinuing all iphone production, period.

Oh Amazon, you can same day deliver me a wireless charger? Deal Sir.

I would normally agree and I love Apple and their products, but they announced this in 2017. Huge mistake by the marketing and engineering organizations

 

[bbednarz]

Ever watch Silicon Valley when Gavin announces their compression algorithm and all the engineers lose their minds because they know they are no where close?

I imagine that was the Apple engineering team when AirPower was announced in 2017.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I would normally agree and I love Apple and their products, but they announced this in 2017. Huge mistake by the marketing and engineering organizations

Yep, never should have announced it since it was nowhere near ready.

 

[4jasontv]

Sorry, but how did you anticipate the mat would both obtain and provide power?

Maybe like this.

 

[Rogifan]

I think people are hating more for the sake of hating than anything else.

How many projects have Apple announced and subsequently cancelled? In my memory as an Apple user since 2011, this seems to be the only one?

Yet we are close to a thousand replies here? It’s not like Apple actually released a product which was at risk of catching fire, and had to recall it. It’s ridiculous, and the outrage is way disproportionate to the gravity of the incident.

Exactly. Honestly I’m sick of hearing about Air Power. It’s a freaking accessory. No Apple shouldn’t have announced it before it was ready but good grief it’s not the end of the world. In fact it’s the epitome of #firstworldproblems.

 

[Baymowe335]

I think people are hating more for the sake of hating than anything else.

How many projects have Apple announced and subsequently cancelled? In my memory as an Apple user since 2011, this seems to be the only one?

Yet we are close to a thousand replies here? It’s not like Apple actually released a product which was at risk of catching fire, and had to recall it. It’s ridiculous, and the outrage is way disproportionate to the gravity of the incident.

It’s just ammunition for haters to say they’ve lost their way, but Apple gets almost everything right.

The average person probably doesn’t even remember this product being teased...that’s the reality. It was also going to be a non needle moving product for their financials. Even selling 10M at $100 of these would have been $1B in revenue...a blip.

 

[sinsin07]

Jobs wouldn’t have allowed this fail.

Why?
He's has had some bad products in the past.
Apple 3
The Lisa
Don't try and revise history.

 

[AppleWarMachine]

Tim Cook...Fail...his pipeline is empty now!

 

[cmaier]

How so? My wireless toothbrush has a small coil in it.
Are you saying that because desktop chargers have larger diameter coils in them?

Yeah, the Qi standard expects certain minimum coil sizes.

 

[Lone Deranger]

Tim Cook's Apple Ladies and Gentlemen. Don't you just love it?

 

[Tozovac]

How did iOS 7 get the go ahead???