Apple Officially Discontinues AirPort Wireless Router Lineup [Updated]

[DakotaGuy]

One of the biggest lessons companies need to learn is that just because a product doesn’t bring in the big bucks doesn’t mean that it’s not important to your business. Products build upon each other and bring in new customers. If you start getting rid of every product that doesn’t get you top dollar eventually not only will your product line shrink but at the same time you'll start shrinking your customer base. To destroy your ecosystem is to commit corporate suicide. Its a concept that companies just don’t seem to be able to grasp.

This is because all of them work for the shareholders not the customer Apple included. I liked my Airports over the years, but I moved on to an AmpliFi router. The performance of the system and the app (which works on iOS and Android) is much better then the outdated Apple system. It’s just not a market that Apple needs to be distracted with anymore. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

 

[Rookbird]

This is because all of them work for the shareholders not the customer Apple included. I liked my Airports over the years, but I moved on to an AmpliFi router. The performance of the system and the app (which works on iOS and Android) is much better then the outdated Apple system. It’s just not a market that Apple needs to be distracted with anymore. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

It is sad but true but what you need to do is learn to balance the needs of the consumer with the demands of the shareholders. Finding that balance will result in a strong and growing company as well as strong and growing profits. Leaning too far one way or the other will ultimately result in a shrinking company and shrinking profits.

 

[Euroamerican]

Annoyed.

I guess that non-Apple routers have come a long way since about 10 years ago when I switched over to Airport routers, but the simple fact is that life has been much better since I switched TO airport wireless routers away from other vendors.

The last thing I want to do when I come home from working on computers all day is router issues. SO BORING to not have to worry about routers blowing up constantly. Towards the end of my original use of LInksys routers, I'd have to reboot several times a night. I think I may reboot my Apple routers about every 3 or 4 months. Actually, I pretty much forget they are even there.

I'm actually thinking of buying a latest gen AirPort Extreme so that I can get 802.11 AC, but I really don't need to for what I'm doing with web browsing and occasional streaming.

I've got three separate wireless deployments for friends and family that are on Airport Express or Extreme, and two other deployments on Extreme for which I am a backup support person. I pretty much NEVER get calls on them.

That's worth a lot of money to me.

 

[magbarn]

Ford is just running their business like Apple and cutting products that don’t return a good ROI (return on investment). Traditional passenger cars are just not as popular as they used to be and instead of buying high trim level cars people are moving up to CUVs, SUVs, and trucks. It’s a problem even Honda and Toyota have right now. When that happens the product mix gets messed up and sedan buyers start buying on price not content. With that said, I’m thrilled the Ranger is coming back as a “Colorado” sized truck and I’m ready to purchase one right after they are introduced.

Ford lives on the F-Series much like Apple lives on the iPhone and to a lesser extent all lifestyle and iProducts. I doubt at this point Apple could ever get much ROI on an all new line of Airports in a very saturated WiFi router market. ROI is also the reason we see little innovation when it comes to iPod, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, Apple TV, etc. Apple is following the money and investing in the products with amazing ROI. Their shareholders expect this and it’s why they are very successful.

And then when your 1 cash cow takes a hit, you fold over? Granted Apple has way more reserves than Ford, but Apple might as well stop selling everything other than their iPhones as that earns them the most money? Believe it or not Apple airports was my 2nd purchase after my 1st Apple product the iPod. I just wanted a WiFi router that just worked. It could be reasoned if I wasn’t so impressed with the airport I would’ve never gotten my first mac a Mac mini in 2006 and probably never spent $10’s of thousands on Apple products throughout the last 15 years...

 

[dogslobber]

Steve was a visionary who always surprised his customers.

You don't surprise your customers by doing what they expect.

Steve was definitely a visionary but understood that surprise would be positive delight as he understood what we needed and we generally 'got it' when he told us. Apple today is the scatter gun approach by trying a bit of everything until they get it right in one area and the rest fail. I'm thinking of all these alleged iPhone screen sizes and my reaction is OMG.

 

[DakotaGuy]

And then when your 1 cash cow takes a hit, you fold over? Granted Apple has way more reserves than Ford, but Apple might as well stop selling everything other than their iPhones as that earns them the most money? Believe it or not Apple airports was my 2nd purchase after my 1st Apple product the iPod. I just wanted a WiFi router that just worked. It could be reasoned if I wasn’t so impressed with the airport I would’ve never gotten my first mac a Mac mini in 2006 and probably never spent $10’s of thousands on Apple products throughout the last 15 years...

The problem is at one time the Wi-Fi router market was decent, but now it’s too saturated to to able to turn the sort of profit Apple management demands. I still use my own Wi-Fi router, but almost everyone I know just uses the Hitron or Arris gateway provided by their cable company. Once you take out the big gateway chunk and add in all the companies that big names in the Wi-Fi business there’s so little left for Apple at this point I completely understand why they have EOLed this product.
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Annoyed.

I guess that non-Apple routers have come a long way since about 10 years ago when I switched over to Airport routers, but the simple fact is that life has been much better since I switched TO airport wireless routers away from other vendors.

The last thing I want to do when I come home from working on computers all day is router issues. SO BORING to not have to worry about routers blowing up constantly. Towards the end of my original use of LInksys routers, I'd have to reboot several times a night. I think I may reboot my Apple routers about every 3 or 4 months. Actually, I pretty much forget they are even there.

I'm actually thinking of buying a latest gen AirPort Extreme so that I can get 802.11 AC, but I really don't need to for what I'm doing with web browsing and occasional streaming.

I've got three separate wireless deployments for friends and family that are on Airport Express or Extreme, and two other deployments on Extreme for which I am a backup support person. I pretty much NEVER get calls on them.

That's worth a lot of money to me.

Check out the AmpliFi by Ubiquiti Networks. I can promise it will live up to and surpass your expectations. Even if you don’t need the whole mesh just the router itself is great.

 

[macachia]

So with what ubiquity products should I replace 3 Airport extremes which work together in a roaming network?

Thanks

 

[DakotaGuy]

So with what ubiquity products should I replace 3 Airport extremes which work together in a roaming network?

Thanks

Depends. Are they all connected via Ethernet or wirelessly? If wirelessly just get the mesh AmpliFi HD. If wired just get 3 AmpliFi base stations.

 

[shinji]

Too bad. My Airport Extreme is the most reliable router I've ever owned.

I get it, though. Like @DakotaGuy said, lots of people now just use the 'free' router their ISP provides, and tons of competing routers for those willing to pay.

 

[SeattleMoose]

When they first came out the non-Apple solutions were difficult to setup at best and integration with Apple products was spotty. The Apple routers were much easier and much more dependable. But today my Comcast router works great directly with my Apple products. I used to use an Express to send music to remote speakers but today speakers with Bluetooth integration are a snap to set up and use directly from a Mac or iDevice. Both my Apple Extreme and Apple Express are in a drawer somewhere along with a 2005 Mac Mini. They were great during their era. That era passed...

 

[IG88]

I'm with others who give thumbs up to Ubiquiti Unifi. I used three generations of Airport during a 15 year period and the simplicity was convenient until near the end when I found that I needed more control (and more performance) than Apple provided.

Currently I have USG, switches, AC Pro, and UCK. Very happy with the entire setup. The product line gets regular firmware/software updates that provide useful features -- nice how the company is actively dialoguing with users in their forums and broader community. Reasons behind changes, schedules, etc. are significantly more transparent than what we experience with Apple.

Another +1 here for Ubiquiti. I have an ER4, Unifi switch, and two UAP-AC-PRO access points. Never been happier with network equipment. The only time they get rebooted is for firmware updates.
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I have one too and like it, but it definitely would've been too difficult for, say, my parents to set up. And there's no AirPlay or Time Machine.

What do you mean no AirPlay? I can only assume you mean the Ubiquiti access points don't have audio out jack? Neither does the AirPort Extreme. Only the Airport Express has audio out and it's only an 802.11n access point.

 

[bingeciren]

W

Any router & networking hardware is easy to use. It mostly takes care of itself and in most cases it's good to go straight out of the box. Configuration/customisation is done via a web GUI and couldn't be easier.

At home I have a 2TB Time Capsule and a few AirPort expresses scattered around to extend the range. This kind of set-up is easily replaceable with hardware from many other vendors.

What about printer sharing and Airplay in addition to being a router ? Any router you know that has optical Airplay out? I don’t maybe you do.

 

[ssgbryan]

Tim Cook is not an IT guy, but pure salesman. Good for the stock, bad for the users...what does it mean practically? We have a dozen iPhones or iPads to chose from, but Macs themselves and accessories like Airport are badly designed (Pro series), not updated (Mini) or just discontinued. It‘s a shame.

He isn't a salesman, he is a bean-counter.

 

[MacHiavelli]

For many people, Time Capsule is the skeleton that holds the Apple ecosystem together. It's the keystone that holds up the Apple house. People want an end-to-end Apple experience, and if they are to use Apple's cloud services, they need a reliable, stable, and secure router to handle their needs.

Remove the skeleton from the ecosystem, or the keystone from the building, and you will face severe consequences.

Apple should see the Time Capsule line as a marketing expense. It is the xmas tree that holds up all the Apple devices and service baubles that make Apple look so pretty.

 

[Bacillus]

This is because all of them work for the shareholders not the customer Apple included. I liked my Airports over the years, but I moved on to an AmpliFi router. The performance of the system and the app (which works on iOS and Android) is much better then the outdated Apple system. It’s just not a market that Apple needs to be distracted with anymore. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

I don’t think shareholders give a damn about Apple spending a few billion more on IT-products as long as there is a fresh stream of promising (eco-system) products supported by a new, fresh staff.
The current crop of old milkers in the Board, having made the company dependant on a single product is far more costly, now that only rumors about a less profitable quarter seem to devaluate Apple 10’s of billions on the stock market

 

[goslowjoe]

I read on another web site that someone was saying that routers are "things you hide away, as long as they do their work". Not so for me. My Extremes are very visible in my home and I have received "ooh", "aah" and "Wow, what's that?" responses from visitors. That my Extremes are part of the furniture shows how relevant they still are as not just a product, but a valued visible asset to my home. One of them sits on a corner coffee table.

I cannot imagine someone oogling over a router with eight antennas that looks like a spider from outer space.

 

[Unami]

that‘s sad. imho, there‘s no better way to control and hold together the local apple-ecosystem than with a dedicated router. from now on, we‘re on the mercy of third party AND apple for things like home-automation, airplay, wake-on-lan,... to work seamlessly.

 

[MarkB786]

Hyperbole much? If this was a massive seller then it wouldn’t have been cut, just like their $1000 monitors. What got them to the top were music players, and then phones which incorporated those music players. Everything else was limited in scope and adoption even among Apple users. I doubt that 1% of iPhone users in any single recent quarter purchased an Airport device in the past 3-5 years.

Your thought process is part of the problem. Apple used to be bigger than just the iPhone.

 

[Abazigal]

For many people, Time Capsule is the skeleton that holds the Apple ecosystem together. It's the keystone that holds up the Apple house. People want an end-to-end Apple experience, and if they are to use Apple's cloud services, they need a reliable, stable, and secure router to handle their needs.

Remove the skeleton from the ecosystem, or the keystone from the building, and you will face severe consequences.

Apple should see the Time Capsule line as a marketing expense. It is the xmas tree that holds up all the Apple devices and service baubles that make Apple look so pretty.

No. Just no.

People aren't going to suddenly stop buying iPhones or iPads just because their wifi signal isn't being piped out of an Apple router. Nor does a user start with an airport express, then suddenly decide to starting buying Apple products to connect them to. Neither will my iMac stop working just because it's connected to an Asus router.

Just as for the majority of users, the gateway into the Apple ecosystem is the iPhone, not the Mac.

You people are hyping up the importance and the significance of the airport express, when in reality, it's just a nice little accessory, and that's all it is.

 

[DakotaGuy]

I read on another web site that someone was saying that routers are "things you hide away, as long as they do their work". Not so for me. My Extremes are very visible in my home and I have received "ooh", "aah" and "Wow, what's that?" responses from visitors. That my Extremes are part of the furniture shows how relevant they still are as not just a product, but a valued visible asset to my home. One of them sits on a corner coffee table.

I cannot imagine someone oogling over a router with eight antennas that looks like a spider from outer space.

There are many high performing routers on the market that are just as attractive as the Airports. You don’t have to purchase the ones with eight huge antennas.

 

[dogslobber]

The Apple routers were much easier and much more dependable. But today my Comcast router works great directly with my Apple products.

Comcast thanks you for letting them share your WiFi router with other WiFi users outside your network and thanks you for paying the electric bill.

 

[vipergts2207]

Do you really need to be able to browse the internet or check your email while going to the nearby grocery store?

Already, the Apple Watch is capable of health tracking, music playback, Apple Pay, maps, calls and messaging when you are not being tethered to your phone. I see Apple continuing to export more functionality from the iPhone to the Apple Watch where it makes sense. The watch won’t be able to replicate the full functionality of the iPhone any time (and it may well never will), but it just might be able to take on enough features that users will be comfortable leaving their phones at home and going out on short jaunts with only their watch in tow.

After all, just look at what the first generation iPhone was capable of, vs what it can do now.

That’s not what you originally said. You said the Watch would be the successor to the iPhone in the way the iPhone was to the iPod. In reality, that’s not possible, the two devices are too dissimilar for that to happen, unlike iPhone/iPod. It comes down to needing a real screen. Not to mention currently Apple can sell you a $1000 phone AND a $300 watch. Why would they want to stop selling you the much more expensive device when they could sell you both.

Do you only bring your phone to the grocery store? You don’t bring it to work with you? Do you only browse the internet on your phone while you’re at home? If I’m at home, I can use an iPad or an MBP for browsing the internet, which have much larger screens. The browser on the phone is specifically for when I’m NOT at home, which the watch can’t do and would absolutely suck at if it could.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Microsoft was at the top once. The fall was long and slow. Arguably it was the Xbox that saved them until they could get back up and learn to walk again. History will repeat itself only the name will be different.

Great example of a company that was on top, failed to change with the times and took a slide because of it. But Xbox didn't "save" MS, cloud services did. Office is still MS's core business.

 

[MrGuder]

So is it worth buying a time capsule before they're gone if Apple is only going to support it for five years?

 

[Abazigal]

That’s not what you originally said. You said the Watch would be the successor to the iPhone in the way the iPhone was to the iPod. In reality, that’s not possible, the two devices are too dissimilar for that to happen, unlike iPhone/iPod. It comes down to needing a real screen. Not to mention currently Apple can sell you a $1000 phone AND a $300 watch. Why would they want to stop selling you the much more expensive device when they could sell you both.

Because iPhone upgrade cycles seem to be slowly getting longer and longer, and the smartphone market is increasingly becoming saturated. I think Apple saw this day coming and has been preparing for it ever since. If new iPhone features are starting to over serve customers to the point where they no longer see the need to upgrade every 1-2 years, and may instead hold on to them for 4 years or longer, then the solution (to me at least) is the Apple Watch. Because the watch is still so new, it will be easier to add features every year and market them to the consumer more visibly, and that would be more incentive for the user to upgrade their watches on a more frequent basis. Thereby creating an additional revenue stream.

Do you only bring your phone to the grocery store? You don’t bring it to work with you? Do you only browse the internet on your phone while you’re at home? If I’m at home, I can use an iPad or an MBP for browsing the internet, which have much larger screens. The browser on the phone is specifically for when I’m NOT at home, which the watch can’t do and would absolutely suck at if it could.

And browsing isn't the only thing I do on my phone. I do a fair amount of work on my iPad, and I choose to do what I do on my iPad because it's a better experience compared to a PC for me. What I can't get done on my iPad, I go back to my Mac. Same here. The watch doesn't have to absorb 100% of the functionality of the iPhone. Simply take on enough functionality and do them well enough to justify owning one. You still have the option of going back to a smartphone for the stuff you can't do as well on a watch, like web browsing, but for everything else, the watch can still prove to be faster and more convenient given the right conditions.

As we speak, the Apple Watch is only a couple of years old. Don't be too quick to underestimate this product.