“Apple Inc. has disbanded its division that develops wireless routers, another move to try to sharpen the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue, according to people familiar with the matter,” Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg.
“Apple began shutting down the wireless router team over the past year, dispersing engineers to other product development groups, including the one handling the Apple TV, said the people, who asked not to be named because the decision hasn’t been publicly announced,” Gurman reports. “Apple hasn’t refreshed its routers since 2013 following years of frequent updates to match new standards from the wireless industry.”
“Apple currently sells three wireless routers, the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule,” Gurman reports. “Apple. “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. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wi-Fi router capabilities to be built into Apple’s Echo echo?
Something along the lines of Amazon Echo is what Apple should have done if run by competent, forward-thinking management. When Apple finally does do their version of Amazon Echo (and they will get around to doing such a product eventually) they will rightly be called a follower. The company had all of the ingredients to make their own Echo, before Amazon, except for the vision, it seems.
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And, as we wrote on June 15th:
There could be a psychological component to this that leads people use Alexa over Siri precisely because they know the Echo is there (it’s a physical object), but forget about Siri being everywhere, even on their wrists (because Siri is embedded inside devices that are “for other things” in the user’s mind (telling time, watching TV, computing, phone calls, etc.) and therefore “hidden” to the user. Hence, Siri gets forgotten and goes unused while people use Alexa…
Again: We believe people use Alexa because Amazon Echo is a physical manifestation of “her,” while forgetting about Siri even though she’s on their wrists at all times and/or in their iPhones and iPads because Siri is hidden inside objects whose primary function is something other than “personal assistant” in people’s minds (watch, TV, phone or tablet, as opposed to “Siri.”) Alexa is present thanks to the Amazon Echo. Siri is absent because she has no such counterpart; no physical manifestation.
Siri is a ghost. Alexa is that cool, fun, glowing tube right there on the counter.
Apple would do well to not discount the psychology behind why people use certain features, even though cold, hard logic tells them it’s a redundant and unnecessary product.
An “Apple Echo” device would sell in the millions of units per quarter and boost Siri usage immensely.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s Amazon Echo echo – September 26, 2016
Apple’s Amazon Echo rival said to include includes built-in cameras to read users’ emotions, recognize faces – September 23, 2016
Apple’s Siri-powered Amazon Echo-like device reportedly now in prototype testing – September 23, 2016
Why an ‘Apple Echo’ would be a hit – June 15, 2016
New Apple TV to take on Amazon’s Echo, source says – May 26, 2016
Apple preps Amazon Echo rival, opening up Siri – May 24, 2016
Apple should make a stationary voice command device like Amazon’s Echo – May 19, 2016
Google unveils its Amazon Echo knockoff called ‘Google Home’ – May 18, 2016
Where’s Apple’s answer to Amazon Echo? – March 31, 2016
Amazon Echo leads mindshare in smart home platform war – February 29, 2016
Why did Apple buy a startup whose tech can read emotions via facial recognition?/a> – January 7, 2016
Apple buys Emotient, maker of artificial-intelligence tech that reads emotion by analyzing facial expressions – January 7, 2016
Two things happened to me over the weekend, that gave me pause with Apple lately.
1) My 87 year old Uncle who has been a customer of Apple for 20 years and is a photography and photoshop wiz, had trouble connecting to his Airport wifi network with his two iPads. He was able to connect with his iMac and mini. A simple router reboot was all that was required. He reports THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME he needed to do this. He has had the Airport for over 3 years. For Apple to discontinue development of such a good device is a shame. My Uncle does not need to deal with a netgear or arris router.
2) I saw the new MacBook Pro with the touch bar for the first time at Best Buy and the kid there said people are REALLY MAD at Apple for requiring extra cost “dongles” to connect nearly everything especially iPhones with lightning connectors. Everyone is also bent about no “magsafe” power connector. This is not how Apple should treat customers buying high dollar top end laptops. Right next to Apple, HP has some really nice laptops with i7 processors in them in the 1000-1500 dollar range. Paying over $2k for a great Mac laptop is ok, but the aggravation of dealing with dongles sucks. Minimum, a TB to Lightning, a TB to ethernet, and TB to HDMI dongles should be in that box. Or at least mail in reimbursement coupons. Apple should team up with someone for a TB to docking box with the above and several USB 3, 3-C and CF and SD card readers.
The accountants have taken over the company, that doesn’t bode well. Cant see much Think Different in the present environment thats for sure.
When I worked in Apple product management (eons ago) we had a product with the development code name BHA, which most people thought stood for Butt Head Astronomer.
I guess BHA can be given a refresh as Butt Head Accountant?
Apple is drifting from being a company that worked on The Next Great Thing, to an organization that works on the next model. – An organization where the (anorexic) parameter product thinness has become on the of the key drivers for product development.
In this context infrastructure components no longer are important, being that the only infrastructure you need is an internet connection and iCloud.
Ah shit! I’ve had it with Apple and their stupidity. Looks like I’m going to have to go third-party now to get a router with faster throughput. Thanks Timmy and Jony! :/
Apple is not building the desktop Mac I need, the wired/wireless router I need, the notebook I need, so WTF is the point of buying Apple gear anymore?
What’s next? No more iPads?
I’m building my own PC once the Kaby Lake desktop processors and 200-series motherboards are out, and I’m going to Hackintosh it to run macOS 10.12 Sierra and Windows 10 Pro. You don’t need hacked drivers anymore with Gigabyte, ASUS, AsRock, etc. motherboards. So, why pay Apple anymore? It does not make economic sense anymore. That way I can put the RAM I want, the SSDs/HDDs I want, the video card I want, etc. into the PC. It will walk circles around anything that Apple can offer.
When my MacBook Pro (mid-2012) dies I am going to get a Windows 10 Pro notebook. The new MacBook Pros are way too expensive and the MacBook is way too hobbled to even consider them realistically. :/
Thanks Apple! :/
Here is a worthy replacement:
NETGEAR R8500 Nighthawk X8 Wireless AC5300 Tri-Band Quad-Stream MU-MIMO Gigabit Router
Gotta say this one really has me scratching my head. Seemed like easy business with a strong product with a GREAT reputation. Looks like it makes it harder to innovate in the home networking area if you have no option to offer unique protocols or hardware. Guess I’m going to be an EREO customer the next time the WI-FI standards take a bump.
Meh, I’ve never bought any Apple wifi products as they were overpriced and not really any better than stuff from other companies. I have an 🍎TV and netgear router and extender and it works flawlessly at half the cost. Seriously, I don’t give a shit.
There seems to be some unusual decision coming out of Cupertino these days…
While it is a thing of beauty to behold, the price of the new MacBook Pro is so far out there I am questioning the value of updating my existing model — Sorry Apple, I’ll wait it out — I think I’ll be fine for at least another year.
I don’t mind the move to USB-C, but to charge for an adapter cable just to connect my brand new iPhone 7 Plus is nothing but a money grab for an already expensive laptop… Don’t the iPhone and Mac departments talk to each other?
The should include an adapter or USB-C to Lightning cable and they could have avoided some of the negative press they are getting.
It seems they are currently their own worst enemy.
I’ll leave my Mac Pro rant for another time 🙁
Haven’t used my last generation Airport Base Station (the one about the size and shape of a Mac mini) for three years at our vacation home and almost a year at our regular home.
Used to be it was required because our ISPs supplied routers couldn’t keep a connection for more than a few hours. But now we just don’t need it anymore. Now everything plays nice together.
Preplexing..
its not about dollers and cents on every little item..
Its about a complete product line and synergic ecosys.
Lose that and you lose the luxury of the premium you charge .
I am surprised the MacDailyNews writer does not realize that Apple has never been an innovator and always a follower. Did they invent the MP3 player? Did they invent the mobile phone? I don’t think they even invented the personal computer. They just made those items so much better that they became the items people wanted. If something works for people, Apple makes a better one. If some thing needs to be deleted, Apple deletes it. I do not see why people are so hung up on whether Apple is an innovator or not.
An analogy:
We’ve all seen those movies where there’s this dude. He’s a geek, he has a small circle of friends but most of the population in his school doesn’t like him, picks on him, makes fun of him. Then he does something that allows him to be a part of the ‘it’ crowd – then what happens? Sure as shit, he embraces his newfound popularity while totally dissing his friends. There’s the inevitable confrontation where he accuses his old, LOYAL friends of just being jealous and storms off to be with his cool new friends. Finally something happens to screw it up for ol’ dipshit and he’s all alone, crawls back to his friends and, after a humble soliloquy they accept him back into their little circle.
The geek in this story is Apple. Had a relatively small but fiercely loyal following – folks who continued to buy their products at every turn, because they were great products, worked and worked together in a killer ecosystem.
Then came the iPhone, which most of us really love. But many other people do too and the product is a huge success. So what’s Uncle Timmy do? He embraces all the new Apple fans while flipping a big ol’ middle finger at what has long been Apple’s core user base. Want a new Mac Pro? Too bad loser, gotta devote more resources to researching that Apple car that’ll never happen. Want a new Mac Mini? Ahhh that’s cute but no. But here, check out our fashionable new watch bands, they’re stylish! Looking for an updated Airport Extreme? Silly dumbass we don’t have enough resources to keep working on that product line – now make sure to check out all the new & updated emoji in your iPhone’s Messages app – that’s the REAL important stuff. Gotta throw more engineers that way….
Back around 2006 I had a hell of a time trying to find a router that worked dependably. Every one I tried f’ing sucked. I’d constantly have to stop what I was working on to go to the other room to unplug, replug and wait (and hope) for the router to reconnect. Over the course of a few months I tried 5 freaking routers, they all sucked badly. Then I got an Airport Extreme.
Fast forward to late 2016 and it has NEVER dropped a connection. It has worked flawlessly, continuously for over ten years.
When I bought this airport I was a (gulp) happy Windows user, built and maintained my own machines & really didn’t care about the Mac – the only other Apple product I had was a 3rd gen iPod.
Since then I’ve purchased 1 Macbook, 2 iMacs, a Mac Mini Server, two Mac Minis for my Dad, several iPhones for both my Dad and myself, a couple iPads, another iPod, I write and record music using Logic Pro (have bought versions 8, 9 and X) and have been planning to move from iMovie to Final Cut Pro X for video editing.
I did love my iPod but had I not experienced such great quality with that Airport Extreme I highly doubt the rest would have followed.
The halo effect – remember that? Perhaps someone needs to remind Clueless Timmy about it while simultaneously booting his worthless ass from the building. Great numbers guy. Horrible Apple CEO.
Bad mistake! Why?
Apple routers have incredible up time performance. Other routers have to be reset and fiddled with almost weekly.
Almost all of my coworkers now use Apple Airport routers. They were amazed by the consistent up time performance at work.
Half of these users are now firmly in the Apple camp because of the Airport Extreme. Before the Airport Extreme these users considered Apple a hipster company with good marketing and overpriced products.
Because of their good experience with the Airport express they tried Macs, iPhones and iPads.
Now they are complaining that Apple wants to be a “fashion” company and has forgotten its core users. Companies and individuals who like products with unique value adding features that just work.
Apple announced that nobody has been let go, as they’ve moved all staff to their greatest new product building ever.. The Emojo Department
Now that’s funny!
Allow me an emoji rant. We need to be inclusive Apple of the flyover nation that elected Trump. Ignored by the media, ignored by the pollsters, ignored by the pundits and now, unfortunately — ignored by Apple.
We need to add emojis that represent the flyover nation and add them to the mix now controlled by the liberal nation.
Let’s start with fishing, the number one recreational activity in the U.S. for decades: trout, bass, crappie, sunfish, catfish — I could go on.
Next, let’s add hunting emojis: Racked whitetail deer, black bear, pheasant, grouse, elk — I could go on.
Next, let’s add hunting and fishing gear: fly rods, spinning roads, hunting boots, waders, deer rifles, shotguns, crossbows, camouflage clothing, pickup trucks, ATVs — I could go on.
Next, for the non-blood sporting environmental crowd, let’s add kayaks, mountain bikes, canoes, tents, hiking boots, backpacks — I could go on.
For the touchy left that might recoil at my suggestions, fine. Offer them in downloadable sets for those of us who are not offended and prone to protest.
Let’s upgrade and show some TRUE diversity, Apple … 😊
What is the alternative to stream music to my stereo from my iPhone?