Maybe Apple hasn't given an official statement about stopping AirPort development is because they HAVEN'T? Remember how many times the Mac Mini was reported dead? I certainly wouldn't change my buying decision based on this rumor. According to this article, the AirPort Extreme is still the best router in the world. I run my entire office (mixed PC and Mac and iOS) on one AirPort Extreme, and haven't needed to restart it once.
and nobody can design an aluminum monitor frame with an apple logo and stick a panel from another manufacturer in it.
and don't have enough people to keep staff on the highest rated router.
and can't update their MacPro line for 3+ years even though intel updated the CPU twice with the same socket
and can't update their other desktops for years.
iPhone design has stayed the same for the last 3 years
iWatch 2 has the same design, ooooh ahhhh, they added a gps and made it thicker.
What the heck have they done with 100k+ employees in the past few years. How can companies a fraction of Apple's size and much more limited resources make more products and keep them all current. Man, when the iPhone party is over, Apple is going to be in some serious trouble.
Another person who thinks that all of Apple's 115,000 employees are all qualified to work on every product.
"Hey, why doesn't Apple pull six members of San Francisco store retail staff and get them working on designing the new Mac Pro? And if the graphics drivers look like they're gonna be late, grab a few janitors to pick up the slack."
Another person drinking the cool aid and doesn't understand that Apple is not performing.
I guess Dell, HP, etc... must be using 3 members from their retail staff in Texas because they managed to upgrade their workstations twice in this time. They must have used the cafeteria cook to do the graphic drivers too. I guess its just too hard for Apple to do this stuff so 3 year old graphic cards will just have to be okay /s
And both companies are in serious trouble. So what does that prove? We do know that Apple has a cyclical business. So I'm on both sides of the issue, I suppose.
i get what they're doing, but it isn't always enough. The problem with Apple's approach, and I'll keep stating that it began when Jobs came back, is that they have no cushion. When they were a smaller company, these smaller products had a much larger proportion of sales, even if their sales were smaller. As Apple kept growing on one direction, the rest of their sales didn't grow in proportion.
now, those sales seem tiny. What was large for a $10 billion company seems minuscule for a $200 billion company. So Apple want to give it up. I get it from their perspective, but I believe that perspective is wrong. They likely look at development costs and think that those costs are out of proportion to the sales, when compared to the iPhone or the iPad, or even the watch and Apple TV. They don't generate software sales, or music sales, or movie or Tv sales, so they figure there's no reason to keep them around, as other companies make them too.
again, I get it from that perspective. I had companies, and so I see why they think that way. But I also say that it's wrong. They need sales of smaller, but steadier selling devices, to cover the large swings in sales of their other products. By getting rid of these products, the swings in the company's fortunes will vary even more. These little products fill in the cracks and valleys.
I've used Apple Airports for many years now and I am generally happy. I expect the high marks are because most people are intimidated by the idea of the setup of other brands (although they're mostly easy enough.) Airports have fewer distinguishing features now as a many other routers can also do printer and drive sharing. The main advantage is Time Machine backup for multiple machines on the network. If you only have one machine to back up, you may as well plug in a drive.
The Airports are pretty weak when it comes to custom configuration options. In particular, competitors have some content-filter / child safety sorts of options that Airport doesn't have at all. My kids are too old for that sort of control now, but for little kids it is something.
Most people never use any of these features on the routers that have them, and most aren't even aware of those features. Apple sells products like these to people who want a reliable product that's easy to set up and maintain, with very good performance. That's Apple's router line. It's not for the wonks who want to do what 99.9% of people aren't interested in.
You are right and the reasons you put forth for Apple to sell the Airport make plenty of sense to me. Those are the reasons I bought it (and I was using an Astaro firewall for the other stuff it can't do.)
It's why I have 4 of them at home, despite that I am a wonk. Sometimes, even wonks don't want to be bothered.
And again I say "What the hell is wrong with Apple?" Why on earth would you kill off something working? They did this to their Bluetooth ear device. It worked perfectly. Looked high tech. Super small and has noise reduction then WHAM they just pulled it.
So iphone has top honors they're killing that next?
1) Their BT earpiece wasn't great audio quality and don't think it sold well.
2) I would reserve your "What the hell is wrong with Apple?" comments for when Apple actually does something, not because of a rumor.
I feel like the reality is leaning toward Apple going the route of the multiple mesh home WiFi network, not dropping WiFi.
While I believe that's it's true that Apple has transferrred people to other tasks, it's still confusing why they would do this other than the low sales angle. Another reason could be the Apple TV. That seems to be the direction Apple is taking. Possibly, Apple is looking to that product as being the new hub. It could also be that Apple believes that home installation of Ethernet networks has declined substantially, and so products with 4 Ethernet ports aren't necessary anymore. So one device - Apple TV, from the gateway, is enough, considering that most gateways themselves come with a WiFi router and 4 Ethernet ports.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
It seems as though Apple is getting the idea that the only products they want to have are major sellers that are iconic products. They don't want to deal with anything else such as monitors, routers, printers, etc.
thats a shame, because even a business the size of Apple needs products that sell in small numbers and for less sales dollars overall. I think this is a mistake. I read that Apple has only so many resources, etc, but that's nonsense. A company that's much smaller, but yet has many more products, such as Sony, also has much less resources, but manages to have numerous product lines.
the reason Apple doesn't persue more products is because they don't want to, not that they can't. An apparent step back is the auto business. If what we read is true, then Apple spendt a lot of money buying and leasing property, mostly for the purpose of coming out with a car, but because they though it would be difficult, they abandoned much of the project. This worries me. They need to do the most difficult things, not the easiest.
I generally agree.
In some ways they are starting to look like IBM -- running away from anything that's difficult.
But I also suspect there's a uniquely Apple problem here which is that the way they are structured, there may very well be a shortage of a key resource: the attention of senior management. Their management structure was built around a CEO who wanted to weigh in on almost every single product they sold before it went out the door. That worked well 10 years ago when their CEO was a product genius and workaholic. I doubt that Tim Cook is trying to take on that role -- instead, it's probably Ive's job. But Ive is not Steve Jobs. He's a good designer, but that's just one aspect of making a great product. Jobs also had a pretty good intuition for the needs of a lot of his customers, he could "see where the puck is going", and he could see how all the products and features fit together into a coherent whole. I'm not sure Ive has that. Jobs was also very passionate about his work -- Ive seems bored.
So I suspect that a big part of the reason that Apple is abandoning good products and markets is that Jony Ive just doesn't have the time or interest, and that leaves the products withering. Apple may need to figure out how to tweak their structure so that one guy (or a small number of guys) don't become major bottle necks.
I couldn't agree more. It seems like the company has totally outgrown the bandwidth of its existing (and increasingly stale, such as Schiller and Cue) senior crew. They should seriously consider an Alphabet-like structure and reset incentives -- e.g., split the company along hardware versus software versus services divisions, perhaps even a fourth "moon shot" division (cars, health, education...).
I appreciate the other comments but honestly I don't think it's that unusual for a company to discontinue a product line which appears to be doing OK. Could be a bunch of reasons why, e.g. reducing number of product lines, future product plans etc..
How about an article that helps us users choose from the various mesh network routers that are out there that could reliably replace the AirPort Extreme? Crying over a now MIA product isn't really much help.
I feel like the reality is leaning toward Apple going the route of the multiple mesh home WiFi network, not dropping WiFi.
While I believe that's it's true that Apple has transferrred people to other tasks, it's still confusing why they would do this other than the low sales angle. Another reason could be the Apple TV. That seems to be the direction Apple is taking. Possibly, Apple is looking to that product as being the new hub. It could also be that Apple believes that home installation of Ethernet networks has declined substantially, and so products with 4 Ethernet ports aren't necessary anymore. So one device - Apple TV, from the gateway, is enough, considering that most gateways themselves come with a WiFi router and 4 Ethernet ports.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
If Apple removes the multi-port Ethernet hub, like with Google's OnHub (which are actually seperate Asus and TP-Link products, depending on the model you buy) that only have a single port for LAN, I'll be disappointed. It's not hard or expensive to setup a cheap GigE switch, but it's not something I want to deal with.
I'm already not satisfied with how they've removed SNMP features over the years. I like the ease of setup for iOS and Mac users, but I would like the Guest Network—which I let my neighbors use—be bandwidth limited. I have no need for a new WiFi router until 802.11ad comes along in my devices or it dies, but I've been thinking for a couple years now that my AirPort Extreme (tower) is probably my last from Apple.
I love Apple AirPort Extreme and I really wish if it is just a rumour that they are going to discontinue it. I have last two gens of Time Capsule and both are working perfectly for me.
While I think it's silly to overreact to a rumor about staff reassignment, and while I don't want to believe that Apple is getting out of the AirPort business, it is telling that I cannot find a link anywhere on Apple's site that takes you to these (formerly fairly prominent pages):
Go to Apple.com and click on Mac and then Accessories. I would expect to see AirPort products featured right there and not "hidden" under "Networking". And the links from that page go to the Store pages not the more informative product pages (the above links).
So it appears that Apple has explicitly and intentionally lowered the profile of the AirPort line. So while they are still selling them they are no longer actively promoting them.
It seems as though Apple is getting the idea that the only products they want to have are major sellers that are iconic products. They don't want to deal with anything else such as monitors, routers, printers, etc.
thats a shame, because even a business the size of Apple needs products that sell in small numbers and for less sales dollars overall. I think this is a mistake. I read that Apple has only so many resources, etc, but that's nonsense. A company that's much smaller, but yet has many more products, such as Sony, also has much less resources, but manages to have numerous product lines.
the reason Apple doesn't persue more products is because they don't want to, not that they can't. An apparent step back is the auto business. If what we read is true, then Apple spent a lot of money buying and leasing property, mostly for the purpose of coming out with a car, but because they though it would be difficult, they abandoned much of the project. This worries me. They need to do the most difficult things, not the easiest.
There's merit in your argument, but I dunno if I'd choose Sony as the poster child for a successful alternative.. They're pretty much churning out duds and also rans all over the map, with many of their products (especially the proprietary ones - from Betamax on, and there's a litany of others - a penchant for which Apple may have picked up from them actually).
I feel like the reality is leaning toward Apple going the route of the multiple mesh home WiFi network, not dropping WiFi.
While I believe that's it's true that Apple has transferrred people to other tasks, it's still confusing why they would do this other than the low sales angle. Another reason could be the Apple TV. That seems to be the direction Apple is taking. Possibly, Apple is looking to that product as being the new hub. It could also be that Apple believes that home installation of Ethernet networks has declined substantially, and so products with 4 Ethernet ports aren't necessary anymore. So one device - Apple TV, from the gateway, is enough, considering that most gateways themselves come with a WiFi router and 4 Ethernet ports.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
If Apple removes the multi-port Ethernet hub, like with Google's OnHub (which are actually seperate Asus and TP-Link products, depending on the model you buy) that only have a single port for LAN, I'll be disappointed. It's not hard or expensive to setup a cheap GigE switch, but it's not something I want to deal with.
I'm already not satisfied with how they've removed SNMP features over the years. I like the ease of setup for iOS and Mac users, but I would like the Guest Network—which I let my neighbors use—be bandwidth limited. I have no need for a new WiFi router until 802.11ad comes along in my devices or it dies, but I've been thinking for a couple years now that my AirPort Extreme (tower) is probably my last from Apple.
Based on this article and the discussion, I thought that I might consider purchasing one before it disappeared.
However, I was disappointed to discover that 31% of 428 reviews give it 3 stars or less. That gives me pause. One would think that there are few more robust CE products today than a garden-variety router. Is it normal for such a product, especially one from Apple, to get so many mediocre-to-poor ratings?!
It seems as though Apple is getting the idea that the only products they want to have are major sellers that are iconic products. They don't want to deal with anything else such as monitors, routers, printers, etc.
thats a shame, because even a business the size of Apple needs products that sell in small numbers and for less sales dollars overall. I think this is a mistake. I read that Apple has only so many resources, etc, but that's nonsense. A company that's much smaller, but yet has many more products, such as Sony, also has much less resources, but manages to have numerous product lines.
the reason Apple doesn't persue more products is because they don't want to, not that they can't. An apparent step back is the auto business. If what we read is true, then Apple spent a lot of money buying and leasing property, mostly for the purpose of coming out with a car, but because they though it would be difficult, they abandoned much of the project. This worries me. They need to do the most difficult things, not the easiest.
There's merit in your argument, but I dunno if I'd choose Sony as the poster child for a successful alternative.. They're pretty much churning out duds and also rans all over the map, with many of their products (especially the proprietary ones - from Betamax on, and there's a litany of others - a penchant for which Apple may have picked up from them actually).
Nice cameras lately, though!
I think I'd rather make fewer products and more profits (Apple) than the reverse (Sony, Samsung, GE, etc., etc.). The risk is putting all your eggs in one basket however. Critics say that Apple is in exactly that situation with the iPhone; optimists say that the basket is the Apple it-just-works ecosystem.
I feel like the reality is leaning toward Apple going the route of the multiple mesh home WiFi network, not dropping WiFi.
While I believe that's it's true that Apple has transferrred people to other tasks, it's still confusing why they would do this other than the low sales angle. Another reason could be the Apple TV. That seems to be the direction Apple is taking. Possibly, Apple is looking to that product as being the new hub. It could also be that Apple believes that home installation of Ethernet networks has declined substantially, and so products with 4 Ethernet ports aren't necessary anymore. So one device - Apple TV, from the gateway, is enough, considering that most gateways themselves come with a WiFi router and 4 Ethernet ports.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
If Apple removes the multi-port Ethernet hub, like with Google's OnHub (which are actually seperate Asus and TP-Link products, depending on the model you buy) that only have a single port for LAN, I'll be disappointed. It's not hard or expensive to setup a cheap GigE switch, but it's not something I want to deal with.
I'm already not satisfied with how they've removed SNMP features over the years. I like the ease of setup for iOS and Mac users, but I would like the Guest Network—which I let my neighbors use—be bandwidth limited. I have no need for a new WiFi router until 802.11ad comes along in my devices or it dies, but I've been thinking for a couple years now that my AirPort Extreme (tower) is probably my last from Apple.
Based on this article and the discussion, I thought that I might consider purchasing one before it disappeared.
However, I was disappointed to discover that 31% of 428 reviews give it 3 stars or less. That gives me pause. One would think that there are few more robust CE products today than a garden-variety router. Is it normal for such a product, especially one from Apple, to get so many mediocre-to-poor ratings?!
I wouldn't put any stock in the rating on Apple's own online store. In my experience they are very noisy, with lots of great products having lots of 1 star ratings. In fact this very article supports this. An objective third party rates Apple's product very highly.
Reassign them to the AirPods division. It needs help, apparently.
$200 billion in the bank. 115,000 employees.
And are late delivering wireless f-ing earphones.
In any other industry, that's a fail. But with Apple, it's "We're taking the time to make sure we're doing it right," and everyone nods in agreement.
Nice job.
Agreed!
Not only that, but by removing the audio jack from the iPhone, this delay ends up hurting their most important product.
They should have released AirPods a year before they removed the audio jack. If people loved the AirPods, then there would have been a strong case to remove the jack.
Something is wrong in Cupertino.
It's becoming unavoidably obvious, that despite evidence of lots of remaining chops in lots of ways, and still great things about products they're releasing, there's getting to be quite a bit wrong in Cupertino.
Just take something simple about harmonizing product lines while "futurizing" their ports:
If they were going to do the no-audio jack thing (as at least three Android phones already have to no news reaction), and making the near portless MacBook and MBP all USB C (likely to be followed by iMacs and Minis if continued) in a move to get rid of legacy ports for an omni-port that will rule them all, plus give them access to all new products coming out and ultimately massively decrease dongle hell for some years to come (until USB x or whatever arrives), it seems obvious to me the iPhone 7 (and all future iPads) should also have gone USB-C, just as most Android phones have - making many things interchangeable - across devices, device classes, makers, etc.
That way, the included USB-C (as opposed to Lightning) headphones would have been ready to go on all new Apple gear and lots of rants avoided.
Ultimately sensible and Apple's still out front.
But nupe. Still a proprietary Apple I/O after all the musical porting.
Reassign them to the AirPods division. It needs help, apparently.
$200 billion in the bank. 115,000 employees.
And are late delivering wireless f-ing earphones.
In any other industry, that's a fail. But with Apple, it's "We're taking the time to make sure we're doing it right," and everyone nods in agreement.
Nice job.
Agreed!
Not only that, but by removing the audio jack from the iPhone, this delay ends up hurting their most important product.
They should have released AirPods a year before they removed the audio jack. If people loved the AirPods, then there would have been a strong case to remove the jack.
Something is wrong in Cupertino.
It's becoming unavoidably obvious, that despite evidence of lots of remaining chops in lots of ways, and still great things about products they're releasing, there's getting to be quite a bit wrong in Cupertino.
Just take something simple about harmonizing product lines while "futurizing" their ports:
If they were going to do the no-audio jack thing (as at least three Android phones already have to no news reaction), and making the near portless MacBook and MBP all USB C (likely to be followed by iMacs and Minis if continued) in a move to get rid of legacy ports for an omni-port that will rule them all, plus give them access to all new products coming out and ultimately massively decrease dongle hell for some years to come (until USB x or whatever arrives), it seems obvious to me the iPhone 7 (and all future iPads) should also have gone USB-C, just as most Android phones have - making many things interchangeable - across devices, device classes, makers, etc.
That way, the included USB-C (as opposed to Lightning) headphones would have been ready to go on all new Apple gear and lots of rants avoided.
Ultimately sensible and Apple's still out front.
But nupe. Still a proprietary Apple I/O after all the musical porting.
Yup... and then there's the closely related point that you can directly charge a USB-C Android phone on the new MacBook Pro but in order to charge an iPhone you need a dongle. How ironic is that?
I feel like the reality is leaning toward Apple going the route of the multiple mesh home WiFi network, not dropping WiFi.
While I believe that's it's true that Apple has transferrred people to other tasks, it's still confusing why they would do this other than the low sales angle. Another reason could be the Apple TV. That seems to be the direction Apple is taking. Possibly, Apple is looking to that product as being the new hub. It could also be that Apple believes that home installation of Ethernet networks has declined substantially, and so products with 4 Ethernet ports aren't necessary anymore. So one device - Apple TV, from the gateway, is enough, considering that most gateways themselves come with a WiFi router and 4 Ethernet ports.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
If Apple removes the multi-port Ethernet hub, like with Google's OnHub (which are actually seperate Asus and TP-Link products, depending on the model you buy) that only have a single port for LAN, I'll be disappointed. It's not hard or expensive to setup a cheap GigE switch, but it's not something I want to deal with.
I'm already not satisfied with how they've removed SNMP features over the years. I like the ease of setup for iOS and Mac users, but I would like the Guest Network—which I let my neighbors use—be bandwidth limited. I have no need for a new WiFi router until 802.11ad comes along in my devices or it dies, but I've been thinking for a couple years now that my AirPort Extreme (tower) is probably my last from Apple.
Based on this article and the discussion, I thought that I might consider purchasing one before it disappeared.
However, I was disappointed to discover that 31% of 428 reviews give it 3 stars or less. That gives me pause. One would think that there are few more robust CE products today than a garden-variety router. Is it normal for such a product, especially one from Apple, to get so many mediocre-to-poor ratings?!
Screw user reviews. Look at a site like Wirecutter. The NES Classic was at a 1 str rating on Amazon because it was popular enough to sell out almost right away. None of that tells you anything about the quality of the device that is being sold but idiots like to vote with their emotions.
Isn't Tim all about Customer "Sat" (Satisfaction)? How the hell do you explain the shuttering of the wireless products in light of this other than "but really we don't care?"
Comments
i get what they're doing, but it isn't always enough. The problem with Apple's approach, and I'll keep stating that it began when Jobs came back, is that they have no cushion. When they were a smaller company, these smaller products had a much larger proportion of sales, even if their sales were smaller. As Apple kept growing on one direction, the rest of their sales didn't grow in proportion.
now, those sales seem tiny. What was large for a $10 billion company seems minuscule for a $200 billion company. So Apple want to give it up. I get it from their perspective, but I believe that perspective is wrong. They likely look at development costs and think that those costs are out of proportion to the sales, when compared to the iPhone or the iPad, or even the watch and Apple TV. They don't generate software sales, or music sales, or movie or Tv sales, so they figure there's no reason to keep them around, as other companies make them too.
again, I get it from that perspective. I had companies, and so I see why they think that way. But I also say that it's wrong. They need sales of smaller, but steadier selling devices, to cover the large swings in sales of their other products. By getting rid of these products, the swings in the company's fortunes will vary even more. These little products fill in the cracks and valleys.
2) I would reserve your "What the hell is wrong with Apple?" comments for when Apple actually does something, not because of a rumor.
so that might cover it, for Apple. That's just a guess, of course. But if it isn't JUST the low sales, there's got to be an additional reason. Yes?
I'm already not satisfied with how they've removed SNMP features over the years. I like the ease of setup for iOS and Mac users, but I would like the Guest Network—which I let my neighbors use—be bandwidth limited. I have no need for a new WiFi router until 802.11ad comes along in my devices or it dies, but I've been thinking for a couple years now that my AirPort Extreme (tower) is probably my last from Apple.
While I think it's silly to overreact to a rumor about staff reassignment, and while I don't want to believe that Apple is getting out of the AirPort business, it is telling that I cannot find a link anywhere on Apple's site that takes you to these (formerly fairly prominent pages):
http://www.apple.com/compare-wifi-models/
http://www.apple.com/airport-extreme/
etc.
Go to Apple.com and click on Mac and then Accessories. I would expect to see AirPort products featured right there and not "hidden" under "Networking". And the links from that page go to the Store pages not the more informative product pages (the above links).
So it appears that Apple has explicitly and intentionally lowered the profile of the AirPort line. So while they are still selling them they are no longer actively promoting them.
Nice cameras lately, though!
However, I was disappointed to discover that 31% of 428 reviews give it 3 stars or less. That gives me pause. One would think that there are few more robust CE products today than a garden-variety router. Is it normal for such a product, especially one from Apple, to get so many mediocre-to-poor ratings?!
I think I'd rather make fewer products and more profits (Apple) than the reverse (Sony, Samsung, GE, etc., etc.). The risk is putting all your eggs in one basket however. Critics say that Apple is in exactly that situation with the iPhone; optimists say that the basket is the Apple it-just-works ecosystem.
I wouldn't put any stock in the rating on Apple's own online store. In my experience they are very noisy, with lots of great products having lots of 1 star ratings. In fact this very article supports this. An objective third party rates Apple's product very highly.
Just take something simple about harmonizing product lines while "futurizing" their ports:
If they were going to do the no-audio jack thing (as at least three Android phones already have to no news reaction), and making the near portless MacBook and MBP all USB C (likely to be followed by iMacs and Minis if continued) in a move to get rid of legacy ports for an omni-port that will rule them all, plus give them access to all new products coming out and ultimately massively decrease dongle hell for some years to come (until USB x or whatever arrives), it seems obvious to me the iPhone 7 (and all future iPads) should also have gone USB-C, just as most Android phones have - making many things interchangeable - across devices, device classes, makers, etc.
That way, the included USB-C (as opposed to Lightning) headphones would have been ready to go on all new Apple gear and lots of rants avoided.
Ultimately sensible and Apple's still out front.
But nupe. Still a proprietary Apple I/O after all the musical porting.