Well, one of my Airport Extremes failed and I upgraded to the newest version. Then I heard the rumors about abandoning the platform, so I returned the Airport Extreme (within the 30 day window) and upgraded to a Netgear Orbi. My Airport network was ok, but I did have issues switching between base stations and getting consistent results even though they were connected on an ethernet backbone. Now with the Orbi, I am much happier with the wifi coverage in my house.
Can someone give any facts about the fate of this stuff versus rumors?
It should be Apple. It's really bad form to keep loyal customers in the dark about the fate of something so fundamental to their connectivity. My brother has an older AirPort and asked me to help him upgrade. Want to stick with Apple that I know and understand, but don't want him to invest in orphaned technology with mesh coming to the fore. I think Tim could give us some direction without compromising future products.
Why would they comment on rumors? They sell the AirPort, they support the AirPort. That's all that matters until the day they either 1) stop selling it. 2) start selling something else. Until then there is absolutely no reason for Apple to comment.
I know there are a lot of people who say "They can't respond to every rumour" but when that rumour can affect sales of your product or the reputation of your brand, then I believe a simple statement is necessary (that is unless the rumours are true). I have many company locations that I have installed Airport Extremes in, I love them, and highly recommend them for easy, trouble free operation. The problem with the rumours as it stands today is that if I need to replace or recommend a router, it won't be an Apple. I'm not going to take a chance not knowing if there is a team working on security for this device.
If you feel the need to call me dumb to base my purchasing decisions on rumours, that's fine, I'm dumb (got it thanks). The bottom line to Apple is that there are a lot of "dumb" people like me and letting rumours like this go unchecked cost sales and credibility.
Who called you dumb?
Anyway I'm not following your logic. If the Airport is for sale today, which it is, why would you be hesitant to buy it? Even if they discontinued it the day after you bought it they would continue to be supported for years to come. Meanwhile, what assurances do you have that the Eero or whatever you chose instead would not be discontinued at some point in the future? Has every other product you might consider released a statement of their intentions? Is such a thing even binding? So confused.
Can someone give any facts about the fate of this stuff versus rumors?
It should be Apple. It's really bad form to keep loyal customers in the dark about the fate of something so fundamental to their connectivity. My brother has an older AirPort and asked me to help him upgrade. Want to stick with Apple that I know and understand, but don't want him to invest in orphaned technology with mesh coming to the fore. I think Tim could give us some direction without compromising future products.
Why would they comment on rumors? They sell the AirPort, they support the AirPort. That's all that matters until the day they either 1) stop selling it. 2) start selling something else. Until then there is absolutely no reason for Apple to comment.
How about because they've commented on rumors before when those rumors weren't true and needed to be debunked? For example, this past week Cook commented on negative rumors about Mac desktops. It was a very low-information comment, but it at least showed that Apple will continue to make some desktop Macs.
The Bloomberg story out this week about the sad state of the Mac makes me think that the rumors about Airport must be true. If Apple is unable to get its act together to keep the Mac moving forward, Airport doesn't have a chance.
Apple does not often comment on rumors. And commenting on this just because they did that doesn't really make much sense or they'd be commenting on all rumors all the time. I suspect they commented on the Mac because Mac is a bigger part of their business (read it would be in the top 125 of the Fortune 500 if spun off as a new company), and surely has had undesired delays. Neither of those is true for the Airport.
Well, one of my Airport Extremes failed and I upgraded to the newest version. Then I heard the rumors about abandoning the platform, so I returned the Airport Extreme (within the 30 day window) and upgraded to a Netgear Orbi. My Airport network was ok, but I did have issues switching between base stations and getting consistent results even though they were connected on an ethernet backbone. Now with the Orbi, I am much happier with the wifi coverage in my house.
So what assurances do you have that Orbi has a long life ahead of if? Never even heard of that product.
I'm struggling to understand how anyone can believe even a discontinued Airport would mean your device would suddenly stop working or being supported...
I doubt that Apple is going to abandon wireless technology (which is currently facilitated with the Airport line of products). Apple would prefer us to backup to the iCloud (revenue subscription stream). But ALL of Apples products rely upon wireless technology now. So rather than focus on the existing hardware Apple will focus on the value add. This could include DVR service for TV (and really all of Apple's devices). It could include whole house mesh network utilizing all of Apple's products - think Home kit linked products all sharing and transmitting data throughout the home (and car, and wherever we are...).
Going back to Time Capsule (and backups in general), if one were to re-imagine Time Machine as an always on, always backing up all of your devices, and always able to retrieve that backed up data anytime - that would be pretty slick and I would pay for that service. iOS backup/restores now are a mess because you can't granularly retrieve or back up individual data.
The future is more than half full in my eye - Handoff and Continuity are just the beginning of an everything/everywhere connected world of the very near future...
Can someone give any facts about the fate of this stuff versus rumors?
It should be Apple. It's really bad form to keep loyal customers in the dark about the fate of something so fundamental to their connectivity. My brother has an older AirPort and asked me to help him upgrade. Want to stick with Apple that I know and understand, but don't want him to invest in orphaned technology with mesh coming to the fore. I think Tim could give us some direction without compromising future products.
Why would they comment on rumors? They sell the AirPort, they support the AirPort. That's all that matters until the day they either 1) stop selling it. 2) start selling something else. Until then there is absolutely no reason for Apple to comment.
I know there are a lot of people who say "They can't respond to every rumour" but when that rumour can affect sales of your product or the reputation of your brand, then I believe a simple statement is necessary (that is unless the rumours are true). I have many company locations that I have installed Airport Extremes in, I love them, and highly recommend them for easy, trouble free operation. The problem with the rumours as it stands today is that if I need to replace or recommend a router, it won't be an Apple. I'm not going to take a chance not knowing if there is a team working on security for this device.
If you feel the need to call me dumb to base my purchasing decisions on rumours, that's fine, I'm dumb (got it thanks). The bottom line to Apple is that there are a lot of "dumb" people like me and letting rumours like this go unchecked cost sales and credibility.
Who called you dumb?
Anyway I'm not following your logic. If the Airport is for sale today, which it is, why would you be hesitant to buy it? Even if they discontinued it the day after you bought it they would continue to be supported for years to come. Meanwhile, what assurances do you have that the Eero or whatever you chose instead would not be discontinued at some point in the future? Has every other product you might consider released a statement of their intentions? Is such a thing even binding? So confused.
Sorry... the dumb comment came from a previous discussion on the same topic.
The rumour that's been going around is that the engineers working on the routers were assigned somewhere else. So although I know Apple will "Support" their routers for years, if their are no engineers working on fixing security or its now a hobby to work on security updates, that is not the level of "support" I would want from a new expensive router. (I will pay the Apple tax for un-compromised support, but not a hobby project)
so my logic works like this: Although their is no proof on any of this. Why take a chance on something that has a 50/50 chance of being true when their are just as good alternatives that don't have a this cloud hanging over it. Like I said, they don't have to dispel false rumours but the fact that they do it sometimes, makes the ones they don't dispel even more damaging. The consequence of that on an active product is lost sales. Lost sales means less incentive to make them and ultimately the death of the product regardless if the rumour is true or not.
Several posters have responded to me asking why Apple should respond to every rumor. I agree, they shouldn't. But what if iPads disappeared from store shelves, but Apple said nothing? Wouldn't you expect them to respond to those who, in the absence of any official explanation, speculated that something was wrong? Granted, AirPort is not a huge earner, but when it leaves shelves and rumors of staff transfers are out there, would it be a sin to comment?
AppleCare Specialists insisted the "Disappearing from Airport Utility" is a hardware fault and replaced my TCs again and again. 7.7.8 resolves ALL "Back to My Mac" issues, or does it? What about keep on asking password for the older email addresses of an Apple ID?
Anyway, a standalone Time Capsule is too primitive to survive 2017.
I'm glad to see an Airport TV Capsule housing all features of an Apple TV, a Time Capsule or a Mac Airport Time Capsule Server housing a Mac Mini Server and a Time Capsule. Preferably to see a Bluetooth 5 Server in 2017.
Can someone give any facts about the fate of this stuff versus rumors?
It should be Apple. It's really bad form to keep loyal customers in the dark about the fate of something so fundamental to their connectivity. My brother has an older AirPort and asked me to help him upgrade. Want to stick with Apple that I know and understand, but don't want him to invest in orphaned technology with mesh coming to the fore. I think Tim could give us some direction without compromising future products.
Why would they comment on rumors? They sell the AirPort, they support the AirPort. That's all that matters until the day they either 1) stop selling it. 2) start selling something else. Until then there is absolutely no reason for Apple to comment.
How about because they've commented on rumors before when those rumors weren't true and needed to be debunked? For example, this past week Cook commented on negative rumors about Mac desktops. It was a very low-information comment, but it at least showed that Apple will continue to make some desktop Macs.
The Bloomberg story out this week about the sad state of the Mac makes me think that the rumors about Airport must be true. If Apple is unable to get its act together to keep the Mac moving forward, Airport doesn't have a chance.
Yup, and that why Apple shouldn't bother making any comments. Apple has already said that new desktops were on the way, but you have decided to go with the Bloomberg story. Folk will choose to believe what fits in with their favourite narrative, and nothing Apple says will change that.
You want to believe that the Airports are finished, so carry on and believe it, but don't expect Apple to waste its breath trying to convince you otherwise.
Isn't a AirPort-isch hub core to a successful HomeKit strategy, connecting both hardware and software in a true Apple way? Given Apples interest in this area (although not very aggressive) don't you think they have something more connected than an AirPort up their sleeves?
It makes strategic sense for Apple to sell an AppleTV that is also a built in Airport. One less device for consumers, and on more AppleTV user for Apple. I'm wagering that we might see this mid-2017.
Comments
Anyway I'm not following your logic. If the Airport is for sale today, which it is, why would you be hesitant to buy it? Even if they discontinued it the day after you bought it they would continue to be supported for years to come. Meanwhile, what assurances do you have that the Eero or whatever you chose instead would not be discontinued at some point in the future? Has every other product you might consider released a statement of their intentions? Is such a thing even binding? So confused.
Apple does not often comment on rumors. And commenting on this just because they did that doesn't really make much sense or they'd be commenting on all rumors all the time. I suspect they commented on the Mac because Mac is a bigger part of their business (read it would be in the top 125 of the Fortune 500 if spun off as a new company), and surely has had undesired delays. Neither of those is true for the Airport.
I'm struggling to understand how anyone can believe even a discontinued Airport would mean your device would suddenly stop working or being supported...
Going back to Time Capsule (and backups in general), if one were to re-imagine Time Machine as an always on, always backing up all of your devices, and always able to retrieve that backed up data anytime - that would be pretty slick and I would pay for that service. iOS backup/restores now are a mess because you can't granularly retrieve or back up individual data.
The future is more than half full in my eye - Handoff and Continuity are just the beginning of an everything/everywhere connected world of the very near future...
The rumour that's been going around is that the engineers working on the routers were assigned somewhere else. So although I know Apple will "Support" their routers for years, if their are no engineers working on fixing security or its now a hobby to work on security updates, that is not the level of "support" I would want from a new expensive router. (I will pay the Apple tax for un-compromised support, but not a hobby project)
so my logic works like this:
Although their is no proof on any of this. Why take a chance on something that has a 50/50 chance of being true when their are just as good alternatives that don't have a this cloud hanging over it. Like I said, they don't have to dispel false rumours but the fact that they do it sometimes, makes the ones they don't dispel even more damaging. The consequence of that on an active product is lost sales. Lost sales means less incentive to make them and ultimately the death of the product regardless if the rumour is true or not.
Anyway, a standalone Time Capsule is too primitive to survive 2017.
I'm glad to see an Airport TV Capsule housing all features of an Apple TV, a Time Capsule or a Mac Airport Time Capsule Server housing a Mac Mini Server and a Time Capsule. Preferably to see a Bluetooth 5 Server in 2017.
You want to believe that the Airports are finished, so carry on and believe it, but don't expect Apple to waste its breath trying to convince you otherwise.
My Xmas/Mid-Winter Night's Dream...