wiggin

applesauce007 said:

logic2.6 said:

applesauce007 said:

rogifan_new said:

red oak said:

This, if true, is a bad move.  3rd party solutions are (still) a mess.  Their software absolutely sucks.  There is no integration with Apple products.  

This, plus the decision not to make their own monitors, makes Apple very unreliable has I look at my personal tech roadmap.  I increasingly can't count on them 

I don't get it as why wouldn't Apple want people to buy this stuff from them. Why cede accessories to other companies? The less of this stuff Apple produces the easier it is for people to leave the Apple ecosystem.

I can't believe nobody here figured this out.

Apple has no business working on the next version of WiFi because at 10 Gb/s,  802.11ax is not needed for homes and small businesses.
The next version of your cellular network known as 5G will provide Gigabit per second speed which is more than enough for homes and most businesses.
People may wish to get a wired gigabit connection to their home in case they have dead spots in the house but it is really not needed.

Remember at&t's Randall Stephenson and Time Warner's Jeffrey Bewkes talking about it at WSJ.D Live?
Check out time frame 26:30 in the video below.

1. Apple has no business releasing wifi devices because 802.11ax will be too fast for homes and small businesses? I'm struggling to understand your logic. 

2. >70% of aggregate internet data demand is video and this %age is projected to grow over time (as 4K/UHD becomes standard). Cellular networks are not designed to move large amounts of video. Even in a US-centric world, data caps and cost will limit the potential of mobile-only internet service. In emerging and developed markets, wifi offloading is going to be critical for internet infrastructure to keep up with demand. 

But it's good to know you have it all figured out. From watching AT&T & Time Warner folks no less. 

1.  Jesus dude, nobody in their right mind will run a 10Gb/s network in their house because no home device will support it.  It is too fast.
The next version of WiFi will be 10Gb/s.  Do you understand?  That kind of speed is meant for interconnecting large businesses and entire cities.

2.  The next Cellular network known as 5G will be a gigabit network and will be very well suited for video delivery to mobile devices.
Very few homes today have gigabit connections.  

So EVERY device in my house will need to have it's own 5G connection? My printers, TiVo, every Mac, my home automation hub, smart thermostat, and security camera? Or will there still be a need to distribute that 5G connection via another method inside of my house?

You seem to be confusing and ISP with a router. Your cellular 5G may get data to my house, but that's just replacing my Comcast cable modem. It does nothing to get the data to all of those other devices. And Apple's routers are still the best option for accomplishing that.

jvmb said:

rogifan_new said:

red oak said:

This, if true, is a bad move.  3rd party solutions are (still) a mess.  Their software absolutely sucks.  There is no integration with Apple products.  

This, plus the decision not to make their own monitors, makes Apple very unreliable has I look at my personal tech roadmap.  I increasingly can't count on them 

I don't get it as why wouldn't Apple want people to buy this stuff from them. Why cede accessories to other companies? The less of this stuff Apple produces the easier it is for people to leave the Apple ecosystem.

I don't get it either. I mainly use mac not because of the OS, but because of the ecosystem. That ecosystem used to justify the higher margins. I have read through instructions to set up time machine on a NAS and I rather pay $100 more for a router than having to deal with setting that up and troubleshooting that.

I think the problem is that the Mac is no longer the center of the ecosystem. The iPhone is now the center and the Mac is an accessory used to sell more iPhones. The routers are not as important as iPhones don't use time machine. Apple prefers that you back up to iCloud.

Even Microsoft seems to be moving away from the PC OS being their main product. After a failed attempt to move to mobile, they are now focusing their attention on cloud applications and enterprise cloud computing. Ironically, Google is now now getting in the router and PC business.

So another move to "encourage" users to subscribe to expensive iCloud storage? In a couple of years we are all going to be paying Apple $50/month for the privilege of living in the walled garden.

sirdir said:

Well I guess Cook thinks he makes more money with iPhones. But one thing is true: The less products I can get from Apple, the easier it will be to switch altogether. Windows isn't as bad as it used to be, Android isn't as bad as it used to be... And Apple is on a dangerous way. 

I can relate to this. I am in the midst of moving my photo management from Aperture to Lightroom, and while I have no intention of switching to Windows anytime soon, once that migration is completed a large barrier to switching will be removed. It's unlikely that I would ever switch, but the option become much more viable.

For as hard as Apple tries to lock you into their walled garden with iCloud services, it's a bit surprising that they seem to so easily dismiss other things that also build loyalty to the platform.

ireland said:

blastdoor said:

Makes sense -- now that apple is going after the coffetable book market, things like wireless routers and displays need to be axed. 

You're being sarcastic but also a bit shallow in your thinking. This book serves many purposes for Apple. It's nothing to do with money made or lost from it.

But shouldn't that same logic apply to the routers? Even if they are low margin, isn't there a non-financial factor in making the new Mac user's experience setting up their Apple ecosystem a better, smoother experience using Apple's routers rather that making them log into an arcane web interface of a 3rd party router? And what about Time Machine? Setting up a network share on 3rd party router's USB port (if they even have one and would even support the protocols necessary for TM) could be very frustrating exercise for a lot of users.

Perhaps Apple has a grander plan in the works which will be unveiled in due time. But if it's just axing the product line because they can't maintain a 40% margin it would seem to be a pretty foolish and short-sighted thing to do. And not to feed the sog35 bandwagon, but it would be the sort of thing a bean counter with no vision or appreciation of the experience would do.

AppleInsider said:

Amelioration of the problem

Somebody got out their thesaurus this morning. LOL