Airport was a device created by Apple that offered compatibility with the Wi-Fi network of Macs. It allowed up to 50 devices to be connected at the same time, and could also connect via AirPlay to iTunes. It could also be connected to any music device you had in case. However, it stopped updating almost 10 years ago and in this post we will tell you the reasons.
The first AirPort was introduced in 1999 by Steve Jobs at MacWorld in New York. It was launched as an attractive option to support Wi-Fi on Macs, and even Windows, when wireless technology was just getting started. Over the years, support for new WiFi standards, up to dual band, was added.
The family was expanded with the AirPort Express in 2004, which included an audio jack for connecting speakers and streaming music wirelessly throughout the house. Back in 2008, the AirPort Time Capsule arrived, which included a hard drive for wireless backup thanks to OS X’s new ‘Time Machine’ feature. During the 2010s and despite consumer demand, Apple stopped including news and updating its range of routers. At the same time, the router market was growing and there were increasingly more competitive prices.
This is why it is no longer for sale.
Rumors in 2016 said that Apple had closed the AirPort unit at the beginning of the year, with the aim of focus efforts on the products that generate the most income. Seeing that there were no updates to these devices, and that in January of last 2018, Apple began to sell routers of other brands in its stores, everything pointed to a definitive goodbye to the AirPort line.
Apple confirmed in 2018 that all AirPort devices are being discontinued and will only be sold in stores while supplies last. Likewise, the company confirmed that the current owners of an AirPort will continue to receive support and repair parts for the next five years. In other words, this 2022 will be the last year in which you can receive support for this product. Today it is still possible to continue buying some of the models, but it is not easy. If you want to buy one of these, it is best to go to second-hand stores or web portals.
It is not known if Apple will return to this market, but what is a fact is that they have said goodbye to a product that had been abandoned for several years. It should be noted that in 1999, when it came out, it was a good purchase option for many users. But over time, more and more companies and companies design and manufacture their own routers at a cheaper price than what Apple could offer. Although Apple has chosen not to continue manufacturing it, in its first years on the market it was very important and there were quite a few users who used it at home.
The entry AirPort: what it is and why it is not sold was first published in La Manzana Mordida.
