Apple officially discontinues AirPort router product line, available while supplies last [...

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  • Reply 41 of 106
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    This is quite disappointing. Yes, there are alternatives, and yes, we knew this was coming, but I always thought that the Airport was an important part of the Apple ecosystem. 

    A logic similar to the one with this decision could easily be applied to headphones, AirPods, HomePod, AppleTV, and pretty much every Apple-made accessory for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Watch.

    No, it can't. To the vast majority of people, an airport router adds absolutely zero to the ecosystem, in terms of tangible, easily seen benefits. You cannot apply the same logic to ANY of the products you just listed. I've owned Airports, and although they were solid routers, they had pretty much zero effect on the rest of my Apple products.

    This could have been seen coming a mile away, Apple likes to develop products that it can differentiate in a big way. A router isn't one of those things. 
    radarthekatStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 42 of 106
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    slurpy said:
    This is quite disappointing. Yes, there are alternatives, and yes, we knew this was coming, but I always thought that the Airport was an important part of the Apple ecosystem. 

    A logic similar to the one with this decision could easily be applied to headphones, AirPods, HomePod, AppleTV, and pretty much every Apple-made accessory for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Watch.

    No, it can't. To the vast majority of people, an airport router adds absolutely zero to the ecosystem, in terms of tangible, easily seen benefits. You cannot apply the same logic to ANY of the products you just listed. I've owned Airports, and although they were solid routers, they had pretty much zero effect on the rest of my Apple products.

    This could have been seen coming a mile away, Apple likes to develop products that it can differentiate in a big way. A router isn't one of those things. 
    I agree...were an all Apple household except 2 PC's used for gaming. We use a Linksys router and honestly, its no different from the Time Capsule it replaced. It sits in a closet and never gets touched unless there's an update or something that needs to be installed. Not having an Apple router has absolutely no effect on future Apple product purchases, nor does it using the current ones. 
    radarthekatbrucemc
  • Reply 43 of 106
    sflocal said:
    Still the best router, WiFi unit I’ve ever owned.  Built like tanks and reliable. “Reliable” being the key word.  Never had to reset the routers once, where the D-link, netgear, and Linksys required monthly resets or their hardware failed.

    What other brand is there that has that kind of dependability and ease of use?
    Synology.  I’ve been using mine for about a year.  It’s fast, has good power, and very reliable.  Also very compatible with Apple.  You can even connect a drive and run Time Machine without any weird workarounds.  Besides TimeMachine the main reason I got it to replace my Airports (I’ve had 3) is parental controls and awesome customer support.  They are super on top of security updates as well. They seem to be much more security conscious than most companies. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 44 of 106
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    entropys said:
    Thing is, the apple of old provided a complete ecosystem that just worked.
    now, there are new innovative ideas that are released, then just left to whither with no further development (eg 3D Touch, HomeKit) or half arsed (eg homepod). The airport could have been the classic marriage of hardware and software that is greater than its parts. The AirPods seem to be an exception that reflects the apple of old.

    airport could have evolved into an out of the box mesh system that was trademark Apple easy to set up. And a reference hub for HomeKit that also ‘just worked’. Instead it was neglected. Like far too much of The Mac line.
    Nonsense. HomeKit is awesome and I add new devices every year. It’s not whithering. I use 3D Touch daily so neither is it. And HomePod isn’t half assed at all, it’s the cheap quality best shelf speaker and way better than my old iHome AirPlah speaker. 

    Youre just creating DOOM narrative. FUD. 
    edited April 2018 racerhomie3watto_cobra
  • Reply 45 of 106
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    This is quite disappointing. Yes, there are alternatives, and yes, we knew this was coming, but I always thought that the Airport was an important part of the Apple ecosystem. 

    A logic similar to the one with this decision could easily be applied to headphones, AirPods, HomePod, AppleTV, and pretty much every Apple-made accessory for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Watch.
    Maybe not.  A WiFi router doesn’t yield the same sort of personalized UX as those other products you mentioned.  Thats the Apple magic and I think Apple doesn’t desire to spend its energies on too many things that don’t deliver it. 
    A fair point. But for a nearly trillion dollar company, just how much "energies" is this? It seems like a trivial amount of "energy." OTOH, it does seem that this technology is ripe for some innovation. But no one makes a lot of money selling a product that works for decades, never needs replacement, and requires periodic software updates. As others point out, they are install and forget. No money in that. Apple clearly wants to grow its services. This offers nothing to do that.

    I smell a decision based on profit margin. But like others commenting here, it makes me sad.

    dblanch369
  • Reply 46 of 106
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    sdw2001 said:
    I remember the excitement of Apple products back then.  I went to the King of Prussia, PA store opening and it was a mob scene.  It’s just not the same.  
    Yes, you got over them. Consumer electronics have matured and nobody is freaking out when they’re born with this stuff. Look at electricity. 
    edited April 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 47 of 106
    MaDoGregMaDoGreg Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    Like previous posters, I too am disappointed. I too use multiple AP express' to stream music. Do I buy Apple TV's , or switch to SONOS .
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 48 of 106
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    MaDoGreg said:
    Like previous posters, I too am disappointed. I too use multiple AP express' to stream music. Do I buy Apple TV's , or switch to SONOS .
    Why not just keep using what you're using? The hardware isn't going to spontaneously combust, and the Expresses are AirPlay targets. 

    AirPlay 2 will still play to AirPlay targets, just not integrated with HomeKit, or with any of the AirPlay 2 niceties.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 49 of 106
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    boeyc15 said:

    Boy I sure miss Steve Jobs vision of a unified Apple universe. Apple airport extreme is easy to use and rock solid. No fuss, no muss... in other words... they are great.

    However now it appears some MBA point paper /spreadsheet has kicked in--- since Apple cannot sell a gazillion (but probably still makes money) --- skeeech off with its head. Standard busyschool ops says re-allocate your cash for better returns. But wait... Apple has $500 billion doing nothing!!!!   ugh... I do not get the world these guys live in.

    So I guess you don’t remember it when Jobs cut products? Like the server? “People just weren’t buying them,” was his simple response to why they cut it. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 50 of 106
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    mike54 said:
    Very disappointing and bad decision. Routers are the gateway, important link to the internet and for the home network, vital for Apple services, and Apple is just throwing it away.
    I do not like this Tim Cook's Apple. He is cutting products and letting go expertise that took a long while to achieve. I was hoping they would make a modem/router for the world market, but that's no longer. According to Tim Cook making worthless TV shows that will be forgotten after a few months is more important to him.
    <slams door>

    <flops onto bed>

    <sobs>

    “It’s not fair!”
    macky the mackydblanch369roundaboutnowwatto_cobra
  • Reply 51 of 106
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    I'm not surprised, the writing has been the wall for a while; and anything that's not iPad or iPhone Cook is completely disinterested in. Cook's mantra seems to be "Would it be a Fortune 100 company by itself? No? Axe. Add Emoji and more Watch bands."

    They were good devices, I have several that've been running reliably for years. The Airport Utility 6.0 was a terrible downgrade though, like iWork '13 and FCP. Lots of features vanished and despite Apple's promise that they would return, only a small percentage did. Their ease of use was good, but for anything slightly more advanced (a subnet other than 255.255.255.0 for example) they were lacking. This likely was a contributor to their reliability software-wise though. They did however have some annoying quirks and longstanding bugs, you had to reboot the entire router when you made even the most basic config change, and the IPv6 support wouldn't work over PPPoE in newer firmwares. Originally they were fairly basic routers, though with things like Airplay and disk sharing they were ahead of the crowd. But as per usual with Apple, they let their initial lead be gradually eroded until they were at the back of the pack. Even the most basic £40 routers have QoS and 5 ethernet ports.

    I'd definitely recommend Ubiquiti gear now. I have a EdgeRouter X and it's brilliant; really powerful, fast and infinitely configurable, though not for the technically challenged. I've got a Unifi AC LR too wifi access point too, again a brilliant device standalone, but it has a Mac-compatible controller that allows you to see and configure the system in the best way possible. The range is just mad, even when compared to my 802.11n Airport Extreme base station.
  • Reply 52 of 106
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    elijahg said:
    I'm not surprised, the writing has been the wall for a while; and anything that's not iPad or iPhone Cook is completely disinterested in. Cook's mantra seems to be "Would it be a Fortune 100 company by itself? No? Axe. Add Emoji and more Watch bands."

    They were good devices, I have several that've been running reliably for years. The Airport Utility 6.0 was a terrible downgrade though, like iWork '13 and FCP. Lots of features vanished and despite Apple's promise that they would return, only a small percentage did. Their ease of use was good, but for anything slightly more advanced (a subnet other than 255.255.255.0 for example) they were lacking. This likely was a contributor to their reliability software-wise though. They did however have some annoying quirks and longstanding bugs, you had to reboot the entire router when you made even the most basic config change, and the IPv6 support wouldn't work over PPPoE in newer firmwares. Originally they were fairly basic routers, though with things like Airplay and disk sharing they were ahead of the crowd. But as per usual with Apple, they let their initial lead be gradually eroded until they were at the back of the pack. Even the most basic £40 routers have QoS and 5 ethernet ports.
    My, what utter nonsense. Macs are behind the windows PC clones? Riiight. iPads? iPhone, Watch, AirPods? Etc. Nope. You’re just making up your DOOM narrative. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 53 of 106
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    MaDoGreg said:
    Like previous posters, I too am disappointed. I too use multiple AP express' to stream music. Do I buy Apple TV's , or switch to SONOS .
    If you do switch to SONOS they just announce the list of their products that support AirPlay 2 (Play 5, PlayBase, and Play ONE).  
    Other older hardware like the Play 3, etc. won't be supported, but you may be able to airplay to those devices if you you go through a supported device.
    (But that's just a guess).    I got two of the Sonos ONE's at Thanksgiving when the HomePod was a no show.  Liked it enough that I got a Play 5.  
    I'm waiting till later in the year to decide if I pick up some HomePods or extend my SONOS setup.   Good luck.
  • Reply 54 of 106
    Apple routers poof, Mac mini’s ignored, dumbed down Mac server software, time machine that was as wrecked in High Sierra, iOS 11 riddles with bugs, and inability to really share a photo library with my spouse.  Apple has grown to be a huge company but why all the missteps and ignoring products.  Aren’t there are enough Apple employees to keep it all going at the same time?  This mantra of we can only work on one thing at a time is hard to believe.   I love that all my stuff just works and is secure and pay a premium for it.  Now we are forced back to 3rd party products.  Ugh.   I’m keeping my routers as long as we get security updates!!!! 
  • Reply 55 of 106
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    So when does Apple announce they’re killing off the Mac mini?
    If it happens it will be in the summer but will only have SkyLake chips in it.
  • Reply 56 of 106
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member
    Shame. Only bit of networking gear I haven't had to fuddle with since day one, updates apart (impressively even the 2007 model I have splitting a gigabit ethernet line got an update recently for that big wifi bug, not sure how many other manufacturers updated something that old). 
    edited April 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 57 of 106
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    Too bad - my Airport/TimeCapsule router was great - solid and reliable, like others said, but the writing was on the wall. Apple never kept up with developments in wifi routers and in the last several years, their routers were woefully under featured.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 58 of 106
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    This is Apple saying that its customers aren’t good enough for user-friendly network utilities. I don’t get what Apple means by “ecosystem” these days. They’re certainly not thinking about putting AirPort node functionality into each of their computers. That’d cost too much (for the customer). 

    I still have an 802.11n version, purchased at launch. Should I get the .11ac model before they’re all gone? Other than BEING ABLE TO HEAR THE ROUTER, I’ve never had a single problem with it or its predecessor–an .11g UFO that I really liked if only for the design. Also, why can I hear it? It’s a quiet, very high-pitched crackly buzz.
  • Reply 59 of 106
    I’ll miss built in airplay support. But other than that, their hardware has been lacking for several years now. 

    I’ve switched my setup to UniFi AP’s by ubnt.com
    simply amazing hardware for the price. Band steering and airtime fairness are basically magic and airport never supported either feature. 

    The company was started by a former Apple employee
  • Reply 60 of 106
    sevenfeetsevenfeet Posts: 465member
    Truly the end of an era.  The original gray saucer Airport was the first wifi router by ANYONE you could buy.  Many PC owners bought it since it was a unique product on the market for quite a while back in the 90s.  Yes, the guts were all Lucent technology...heck, if you cracked one open you saw a board with a Lucent PCMCIA card plugged into the slot.  You could buy that same card for PCs  The first Wifi capable iBooks (remember them?) pretty much had the same card but enclosed.

    But then Apple took over primary development and the best part of it was that configuration was extremely simple.  Wifi for any other platform was ugly to install and configure and it's still not the easiest to do, at least on the server side.  Netgear, D-link and the rest of the bunch have never approached what Apple has done to make configuration as simple as Apple.  Even with Airport Extremes not as fast as some competing products now, i still recommended them to friends and family because of the ease of use and rock solid reliability.  They rarely broke and rarely crashed.  i still have one in the middle of my network.

    And then there is the Airport Express which is a great little Airplay device even to this day.  I use one for my all analog 2 channel tube amp.
    tallest skilhcrefugeewatto_cobra
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