Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:
Apple hasn’t refreshed its routers since 2013 following years of frequent updates to match new standards from the wireless industry. The decision to disband the team indicates the company isn’t currently pushing forward with new versions of its routers. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s plans.
And:
Exiting the router business could make Apple’s product ecosystem less sticky. Some features of the AirPort routers, including wireless music playback, require an Apple device like an iPhone or Mac computer. If the company no longer sells wireless routers, some may have a reason to use other phones and PCs.
Not sure I agree with that last point. Somehow I don’t see someone switching out of the Apple ecosystem because of their router.
Combine this program cancellation with the news about Sal Soghoian’s position being eliminated, and it sounds like Apple is doing some beginning of the fiscal year house cleaning.
For many reasons, I hope there’s an Apple alternative to the Apple basestation on the horizon.
Wow, there seems to be some churn going on…perhaps some reorganization of the company’s place in the world, at least on the margins? Uncomfortable feeling, though I don’t know if that’s just being afraid of change.
I think the new WiFi mesh networking routers are probably going to be the replacement for most Mac users. They get good reviews. Eero for example. https://www.engadget.com/2016/02/23/eero-is-the-home-wifi-solution-ive-been-waiting-for/
Not sure what to do about the Time Capsule though.
Well, another Apple product line bites the dust. R.I.P. Airport.
The last time I owned a non-Apple router (almost 20 years ago) was a miserable experience. I do not look forward to going back there. Perhaps, enlightenment has befallen the nerdy IT engineers and their products no longer hurt my brain.
Okay, this looks promising. I’ll put my despair on hold for now.
Dang. I’m going to miss the relatively easy setup when it comes time to replace mine.
It does make sense from a business point of view. But it does not from an experience point of view. The Airport Utility, and its drastic simplification of the setup process were Apple at its best. Go back to the craptastic browser interfaces of other routers? Better, try to configure any other router from an iPhone? Play the hit and miss game of which disk with which router does do Time Machine reliably? The richest company in the world does not need to make business decisions like that, or charge you USD 19 for an extension cord for your USD 4K laptop.
It is not about a single product. But they kill the ecosystem. Once I have that crap looking monitor, the even crappier looking router and no updates to Mac Pros and Minis in years… I might just surrender to the ugliness and go all in.
Slowly but surely the question is: what does Apple make at all anymore? They kill a lot, but do not add anything at all. On a lighter note… New 15″ MBP arrived today. It is absolutely awesome.
Damn. I like my Airport Express for audio streaming, but I guess this was inevitable as they’ve not been updated in a while and each software release seems to have removed advanced features that were previously available.
I’m looking at some of the more user-friendly home mesh access point/routers such as the Eero, Luma, and Orbi as they seem to be similar to the AirPorts as far as configurations go.
Maybe their assumption is that you will use the cloud to back up rather than Time Machine. I still think it is a bad move.
Yep. That goes exponentially for those of us who provide occasional tech support for friends and family.
As I mentioned earlier, I hope there’s an alternative on deck.
If you know of a manufacturer whose device config isn’t designed by asocial engineers, I’d love to hear about it.
If Apple doesn’t provide an alternative, hopefully it’ll be a few years before I’m railroaded into exploring that absurd jungle.
If true, this really sucks.
The wifi part isn’t the end of the world; there are a new generation of mesh routers that provide better performance, coverage, and have native setup apps. Things like Eero, Google WiFi, and so on. These things put the current AirPort line to shame.
However, what about Time Capsule? I’ve often read that third-party Time Capsule implementations are unreliable. I have a NAS attached to my Time Capsule and have considered using it for Time Machine, but then I read web forums as to how frequently corrupted it gets.
I’d get an external hard drive but it’s a poor story for laptops or multi-computer home machines. The cloud is a good second tier but isn’t really a replacement for a local backup.
I guess I’m stuck with my Time Capsule for now, and I’ll have to see what Apple does. Maybe I have to settle for using iCloud Drive + Backblaze/Crashplan? Still a bit scary to have to rely on that…
Also… is AirPlay a dead platform? What are people doing in lieu of AirPort Expresses? Is it time to migrate to Chromecast?
The Airport line has been a stellar part of the lineup. I hope it isn’t going away. They are to my mind, the perfect example of the “it just works” philosophy. It’s setup and maintenance are dead simple. No other router I’ve ever used matches up with any of the Airports…
One can hope that this story has more to it, and this is more about streamlining their divisions, with individual product groups being merged, and not leaving technologies behind.
I have been watching this generation of ‘mesh’ soho routers, and they do not work very well at all. Many are simply kickstarter projects from start-ups that have a lot to learn. Although they have no qualms about charging apple-like premium prices for them.
The idea of how they work is great, they just don’t work very well at the moment (their firmware is buggy and beta-like) .
This is an area Apple could lead in (they actually did for a long time).
The market needs a solutions that ‘just works’.
Thanks, I’ll check those out.
I imagine this is at least partially driven by the move to laptops being primary computers and moving around much more than they once did, making reliance on having an Airport router a hinderance. Being able to have the same functionality at Starbucks or the office as you do at home regardless of what the router happens to be is a nice win for users.
Apple seems to be working to open up and move towards standards, favoring Javascript for automation, moving to USB-C ports, now seemingly abandoning their Airport line. This makes sense now that the standards meet Apple’s needs. It has the benefit of forcing Apple to not rely on proprietary systems to support features.
I can only find reasonably good reviews. Do you have negative ones? I was hoping that these worked better than traditional WiFi routers. They surely seem expensive.
I bought my first Apple wireless router after fighting with D-Link horseshit for months trying to get my first PS3 to work reliably with remote gaming servers. Never looked back. I have no inclination whatsoever to go back to the competition. May have to stock up?
Historically Apple has tacked features onto its routers to support its view of user workflows and needs. The original Airport router could connect directly to AOL. Later versions supported AirPort disk sharing, printer sharing, AirPlay integration, Time Capsule, etc.
I switched to Apple’s routers over reliability issues; the other routers would all get too hot and cook themselves in a year or two. Is that now more generally solved through the industry?
WireCutter has a pick for a model that supports Time Machine now.
I always thought Time Capsule fit the definition of a bad product:
Take something that generates a lot of heat and is known for going bad (and generating more heat as it does), like a hard drive. Ideally, make it something people are going to want to replace over time.
Now put it in the same case as something that’s highly heat sensitive, but otherwise lasts for years, like a WiFi router.
Mix and see how long it works.
Apple TV, maybe?
Hmm. I have an express which is reliable but only N level speeds. Thats actually fine for what I use, but I wonder if I should get an extreme to at least get something with AC speed and Apple ease of use and reliability.
It’s better, but it’s still not as good as Apple’s. I recently replaced my Airport Extreme with a Netgear Nighthawk. It was a bit of a pain to setup but it works well. And the router was $100 cheaper.
The reviews I have read show very poor performance when connected to a satellite (slave) access point and each different brand were lacking one or two critical features most folks would need.
Something just occurred to me which might or might not be relevant.
Apple said they’d “worked with” LG to develop the two monitors they’re now selling in their store in place of Apple’s own discontinued models. Has anyone set one of those up, so they can comment on the degree to which they integrate with macOS?
Assuming LG has provided driver features for these monitors that wouldn’t have otherwise been there, how possible might it be that Apple’s working with an incumbent router manufacturer to help make their gear more transparently Apple-like to set up and diagnose?
I’ve been assuming that some of these changes are being done now to take the financial hit when their profits can handle it… Next quarter is not going to be nearly as strong as the holiday (+ new MacBook Pros) quarter.
Ummm…I’m pretty sure, regardless of which quarter it is, Apple’s profits can take the minuscule hit from no longer selling a product they haven’t upgraded in three years.
Dang, I’d hate to have to do such a thing.
True… I was thinking about inventory write-downs, reorganization costs, etc. rather than “a small dip in ‘Other Products'”
“It is not about a single product. But they kill the ecosystem. Once I have that crap looking monitor, the even crappier looking router and no updates to Mac Pros and Minis in years… I might just surrender to the ugliness and go all in.”
This is exactly what I think will happen to me.
Beside, if I want an easy solution to AirPlay audio to my speakers, where could I look for? When there is no solution, suddenly AirPlay is just not that attractive anymore. Then iPhone itself will become less attractive.
When Apple discontinues product I’m using every day, and want to use (monitor) Apple ecosystem is becoming less and less attractive to me.
Can you find the link by chance? I tried a few searches and fell deep into routers and external hard drives.
Eero (www.eero.com)? Interestingly, a number of Apple columnists speak very highly of it on their podcasts.
“Not sure I agree with that last point. Somehow I don’t see someone switching out of the Apple ecosystem because of their router.”
And you would be wrong. The more they give up on all the technologies that make the Mac great, the less incentive I have to stay in the ecosystem. There are no Mac-only apps I absolutely need to have, for me it was always about the quality and integration. As that has been going away, so do my reasons to remain a Mac customer.
Are you sure they’re not just advertising for it? 🙂
Some of them definitely are, like Gruber on The Talk Show. But if you listen to his endorsement, he’s using the product and recommends it highly.
Yes, it was still in my browser history. But I make no guarantees here; my current setup is a different model of AirPort with a hard drive plugged in. 🙂
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-router/
Thanks Steven, I saw this. Unfortunately, I don’t trust this one as the C7 has gotten terrible user reviews. Read the comments below the article; turns out Wirecutter really messed this one up. Moreover, it only lists one non-Apple router with Time Machine support, and doesn’t cover its reliability at all.
So, we’ll eventually need a more authoritative article.
Hopefully we’ll get one, then. Seems to matter now.
I’ll use my AirPort until I can’t anymore, even if I have to use it wired on the network as a disk sharing device only.
I’m using a desktop (plugged into AC) hard disk connected to a current model AirPort Express as a home made Time Capsule. Works like a charm. However, I think the sparse bundle file type used for over the air Time Machine backups isn’t as reliable as the file type used when you direct connect a HD to a Mac.
Look online, various folks (me included) have gotten corrupted time machine backups and had to start again from scratch. This is because the sparse bundle file type is fragile and various things can cause over the air backups to hiccup.
Bottom line: I’m not sure what the best answer is: Time Machine backups are an essential part of using a Mac, even if one uses SuperDuper or CCC. Time Machine backups are easier to migrate data onto a new Mac from, and certainly easier to un-delete files from.
All of this makes me very uneasy.
Yes, get an extreme, and then you can turn it into a Time Capsule or NAS by connected an AC powered HD to it.
Time Capsules have been pretty reliable for me, but yes, it seems remote mounting sparsebundles and backing up (which is what Time Machine does) is not the most reliable protocol… maybe if there are e.g. network hiccups. I recently had my two machine backups get the dreaded “verification” message for the first time a month ago.
It’s really unfortunate, because the value of Time Machine is set-and-forget, and I really don’t want to attach an external hard drive physically, because it’s not a good experience on OS X (especially, waiting for it to spin up at random points).
CCC supports backing up to NAS. If that’s reliable, my long-term strategy may be to pair CCC for local backups to my NAS (a WD EX2 plugged into my TC) and Backblaze/Crashplan for offline storage.
So unfortunate Apple so highly touted Time Machine but has seemingly ignored it the last few years. I guess they’re moving wholesale to the cloud, but then why not offer an iCloud Time Machine offering?
I guess, like most other things macOS today, we’re stuck in transition, waiting for the new tech to arrive.
I wasn’t aware that CCC did network backup, I’ve been using SuperDuper for years but I also own CCC.
I have a lot of stuff on my SSD, there is no way I’d want to do a cloud backup of it nor would I want to do a cloud backup of certain things on my SSD simply for security reasons.
The file type of direct-connected Time Machine backups is different and I’ve not heard of folks having the dreaded verification dialog with direct connected backup drives. Who knows…
I agree, Time Machine is a terrific technology and even if Apple stops making and selling Time Capsules hopefully they’ll continue to support Time Machine. I feel the same way about AirPort Admin: excellent software, easy to use on Mac and iOS and hopefully will be update to work with non-Apple routers.