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Apple Officially Cancels AirPower

Bit of a PR disaster. The product should never have been announced.

Unannounced products are cancelled all the time. Nobody cares, because nobody knows.
 
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ipponrg said:
My point is you should accept the fact that people will blame/praise that Tim Cook for each product during his tenure because he is the face of the company, and you should not be surprised by it. There is really nothing more to what I am saying.
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I can't recall the last time Tim Cook was praised for anything during his tenure thus far.

That's what I am saying. He is never going to get credit for what he does well or right, while he is going to receive a disproportionate amount of criticism for every single slip-up the company does get.

I mean, it's not like it's my business. He is rewarded handsomely for what he does, so I guess this is all part of the job. I would be genuinely surprised if he is even aware of the existence of this thread. I guess that I just don't really believe the Apple crowd here who claim they criticise Apple because they care and want Apple to improve and stay on top. I think that somewhere along the line, they just turned into this bitter and jealous jilted ex-lover who is just hanging around all day to bash and whine because they are incapable of moving on. And the more successful Apple gets, the more the hate piles on.

You are right. It's expected, I shouldn't be surprised, but I still find it no less irritating.

Maybe I too will find my peace one day, but that day certainly is not today.
 
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SidricTheViking said:
Surprising, but fascinating to see so much activity over a product that never shipped!
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I feel this is a demonstration that quite a few people are disenchanted with Apple, whether this is the lack of a MP, the very high cost of some of their products, the 1 year OS upgrade cycle or the keyboard issues. The keyboard particularly seems to me to have caused a lot of angst, and has altered my perspective of Apple.
 
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SidricTheViking said:
Does this device require precise placement? Sounds very good, by the way.
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I use the PLUX in "stand mode" not pad mode. The center section of the pad/stand for charging the iPhone doesn't have much room to move the phone to the left or right, since the AirPods must be on the left and the AW on the right.

But it always seems to charge the phone right away if I place the phone on the center of the pad, and I can slide the phone 1-2 cm to the left until it rests up against the AirPods holding shelf and I still get charging in that spot (it's easy to find this spot in the dark since it's by feel).

I can also move the phone to the right 1-2 cm and it still charges as well, but if I move it too far to the right it will leave the charging pad and start to cover the Apple Watch charger. That' won't happen if you're charging a watch, because you'll knock the watch off the stand. It does use the Apple brand watch charger cable, which you install into the stand, so it's easy to see the white circle where the watch goes and you don't end up putting the phone there.

I have not tried it in "pad" mode (flat on the table with the AirPods shelf removed), so I don't know if the AirPods side can charge an iPhone or not, or how much overlap there is between the Qi charger on the left for AirPods and the one in the center for iPhones. Because I use the milanese loop bracelet it's easier to use the PLUX with the stand, and then I don't have to open up the loop to charge it.
 
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B2k1977 said:
I could see them turning the mac into something like a chromebook. Not quite a real computer but some kind of connected internet gadget that looks like a computer.
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If they ever do such a thing, I hope they'll just drop the "Mac" name. Actually, I wish they'd just discontinued the MacBook Pro moniker after 2015. The new ones are undeserving. And yes, responding to someone in a previous post, it is amazing how I and others have drifted off the original "AirPower" topic - banter has really sort of shifted to Apple product failures of late, generally speaking.
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bobob said:
77 pages of comments for a minor Apple accessory.

The MacRumors server will surely catch fire and explode if Apple ever cancelled an actual significant product.
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Yeah, I look forward to the fireworks once Apple drops Macs altogether. That should break records for posts and vitriol.
 
bobob said:
77 pages of comments for a minor Apple accessory.

The MacRumors server will surely catch fire and explode if Apple ever cancelled an actual significant product.
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I share your sentiment.

I can’t Help wonder how many of the people making a stink over this accessory would have purchased it.

When it was first introduce it sounded exciting. Then one day the watch was set in a cheap spigen watch holder and the nightstand mode was discovered, so long AirPower.
 
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SidricTheViking said:
Seems a bit harsh! Why should Apple be bashed for failing to conquer something no one else has conquered? If they had tried to offer something similar to what the market already provides - and failed, perhaps criticism would be in order. Not so sure any company deserves to be ‘bashed’ for trying but failing over a new (and unique) product. Then again, maybe I’m not seeing something that you can see....
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Trying and failing is not what I was referring to when I said Apple screwed up. I meant the pre-announcement. My point was that most of the people complaining were never going to spend $150+ on AirPower in the first place, but they gave the anti-Apple brigade ammunition—served up on a silver platter—by canceling a pre-announced (and delayed) product.

Anyone who beats up on Apple for having done that has a legitimate beef, and there’s no doubt Apple’s going to get raked over the coals for it. That’s to be expected when a high profile company like Apple makes a (relatively rare) misstep.

I’m sure Apple expected exactly the type of blowback they’re getting, just as I’m sure there were a number of lessons learned with this whole AirPower fiasco.
 
I'm just grateful they didn't release a half baked product i would end up needed to return to the store for replacement every 3 months *cough* butterfly keyboard *cough*

Lets hope my sealed AirPod charging case is worth some money one day with the elusive AirPower illustration.


Jamers99 said:
Well I bought the NoMad instead and couldn't be happier.
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I have also ordered this now, but I got a long wait :(
 
Arran said:
Bit of a PR disaster. The product should never have been announced.

Unannounced products are cancelled all the time. Nobody cares, because nobody knows.
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And yet just few months ago we were all hoping with excitement ready for it as well... What happened..?
 
Tech198 said:
And yet just few months ago we were all hoping with excitement ready for it as well... What happened..?
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I’m sure we’ll find out someday what the problem was, but currently Apple isn’t specifying in what way they weren’t satisfied with the product.

Clearly, it was very late in the process; support had been added in iOS; AirPower was featured on packaging and referenced in other collateral materials; the trademark had been purchased from the owner, etc.

But something went wrong, and it was bad enough that the product was cancelled outright, after a few months of trying to save it. Many think the most likely problem was a safety issue, and I agree. But we don’t know yet.
 
Apple needs to release a software update that will increase Max wireless charging to at least 10W. 12W would also be nice.
 
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liljak said:
I'm just grateful they didn't release a half baked product i would end up needed to return to the store for replacement every 3 months *cough* butterfly keyboard *cough*

Lets hope my sealed AirPod charging case is worth some money one day with the elusive AirPower illustration.

I have also ordered this now, but I got a long wait :(
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I didn't see the illustration on my box - I ordered on 3/21 and they shipped within a few days and arrived pretty quickly, before the AirPower was canceled. I ordered the AirPods 2 as soon as I knew about them, thinking I'd be getting an AirPower later.
 
HeadphoneAddict said:
I didn't see the illustration on my box - I ordered on 3/21 and they shipped within a few days and arrived pretty quickly, before the AirPower was canceled. I ordered the AirPods 2 as soon as I knew about them, thinking I'd be getting an AirPower later.
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My box has the AirPower illustration.

Keep in mind this is the box for the charging case only, not the AirPods 2.
 
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I'm going to call bs on the original reason for why this was canceled. Apple already makes crippled products on purpose, they also put in components that do not last very long like GPU's. It could have just made magsafe like connections using magnets on the devices that lock them onto the mat for proper charging, with the device shape printed on the mat. I say a possible reason they will not go forward with it is that they could not own the technology or control the company that will supply the components. Without them being able to get the parts cheaper and cheaper every year their strategy to maximize profits over time would not have been possible. They don't want another qualcom situation. Also, if the technology is at a stage where it cannot leapfrog the competition so they can first give the crippled version and then over the years upgrade it to its actual potential and the technology only manages to stay at the same pace as the rest of the competitors then it won't pour their money into the companies who supply the parts.
 
reyesmac said:
I'm going to call bs on the original reason for why this was canceled. Apple already makes crippled products on purpose, they also put in components that do not last very long like GPU's. It could have just made magsafe like connections using magnets on the devices that lock them onto the mat for proper charging, with the device shape printed on the mat. I say a possible reason they will not go forward with it is that they could not own the technology or control the company that will supply the components. Without them being able to get the parts cheaper and cheaper every year their strategy to maximize profits over time would not have been possible. They don't want another qualcom situation. Also, if the technology is at a stage where it cannot leapfrog the competition so they can first give the crippled version and then over the years upgrade it to its actual potential and the technology only manages to stay at the same pace as the rest of the competitors then it won't pour their money into the companies who supply the parts.
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That’s certainly one version of how it could have gone down.
 
Steve121178 said:
AirPower didn't offer anything new when it was announced aside from being able to charge multiple devices at the same time, but it even failed at doing that as Apple couldn't get it to work. Meanwhile dozens of third-party Qi chargers have been on the market for nearly two years can can charge 2-3 devices at once.

I bought a bunch of RAVPower Qi wireless fast-chargers for home & work. I plonk my phone down each time and it chimes to confirm that it's charging because it's a good charger. You are inventing problems or using cheap tat that doesn't work properly.

If Apple dropped the Qi standard then some users will drop the iPhone. We've all invested in Qi standard wireless charging tech, even speccing it in our new cars if the option exists. It would be suicidal to adopt a new standard this late in the game.
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Completely wrong. You didn't even read the post which could have shown you how wrong you are. Hint: very.
 
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I7guy said:
Nothing to elaborate. The AirPower concept was not “just another Qi charger”. There is enough out there and if that is your opinion, that is your opinion.
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It was just a Qi charger. The concept demonstrated nothing else aside charge a few devices all at once.

Apple couldn't make it work. Meanwhile various Chinese companies have had devices that can charge multiple devices on the market for a while now. Yes, they are not as elegant, but Apple's design was impossible to bring to market.
 
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