I was never really an AirPort superfan, but I did like it. When it was discontinued I moved on. Looking back on it though, I really think this was a dumb discontinuation on Apple’s part. There are a lot of examples of beloved and discontinued products whose fans continue to miss them long after they’re gone (think Google Reader). In a lot of these cases, the product in question had a really strong use case for a certain set, but was not economically viable for the business to maintain or make money off of.
But for Apple, and their set of Home devices (not to mention HomeKit), just seems like a big misstep to lose this critical part of people’s home networks.
– AirPort could easily tie into Apple’s messaging about privacy and include privacy features that are easy to activate and use.
– AirPort could act as a Home Hub for people who don’t have an Apple TV, or other product.
– AirPort could act as a “HomeKit Router” instead of having to rely exclusively on third party products.
– AirPort brand and/or technology could be (if Apple wanted), integrated into other products. I.e., maybe you can have a HomePod that also has an AirPort router built in, or MacMini with router capabilities. (Not saying they should have done this, but they could have had the option).
– Apple could have done this with an existing product line, that they wouldn’t have had to build from scratch. It was already there, people already liked it. Maybe it wouldn’t be a huge profit driver but certainly supports the ecosystem at home.
– Ongoing support for features like Time Machine backup.
While I’m not saying that any one of these ideas would have been a great use case (I’m not an Apple Engineer), I am saying that there would be plenty of opportunities for innovation with an Apple router in people’s homes.
At the time AirPort was discontinued, it was kind of at the nadir of Apple’s hardware development (in my opinion). Butterfly keyboards, limited ports, etc. But Apple has largely been able to recover/adjust course on those missteps.
The AirPort line seems like another story entirely. Just a huge mistake and missed opportunity for Apple to support a key component of people’s home internet. Not a great move, and I think their home strategy is suffering as a result.