Apple’s solution for a wireless world — the AirPort routers — is likely to be gutted for good, reports Quartz. We are a bit puzzled. Given that Apple has been getting rid of ports right, left, and center, forcing users to go wireless, this move is a bit strange.
Apparently, the decision of shutting down the division isn’t an overnight one. Reports suggest that the process has been going on for almost a year. Apple has gradually been shutting down operations and relocating personnel and resources over to other departments.
“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.” — Bloomberg
An ignored product
The routers haven’t been updated since 2013. That should have given us some clue that perhaps Apple was not interested in taking the product further. In fact, it looks like another step in Apple’s recent efforts to streamline their product lineup.
In the Apple family of devices, the AirPort routers fall under the category of “other products”. This sub-group also includes the Apple TV and Apple Watch. Put together, these three products only account for about 5% of Apple’s revenue. And, given that an Apple Watch comes with a heftier price tag and that it has sold way more units than the Airport routers, it’s safe to assume that the routers account for less than 1% of Apple’s net revenue. It’s understandable that Apple would want to call it quits on the product!
The question of relevance
The wireless router technology has grown by leaps and bounds since the inception of AirPort routers more than half a decade ago. At that time, they were the best in the industry, until they started lagging behind the competition.
The industry standard today is a “mesh-technology.” Eero is one of the companies that is pushing the frontiers of integrated network solutions.
The new age technology of wifi connectivity has moved away from the standard “one-router” set-up and entered a “step-routers” phase, where more than one routers are positioned and synced together to give a singular, unified wifi experience. These work together to create a wifi mesh of sorts, hence the popular name of the tech.
Apple had wanted to do something like that with its AirPort routers as well, but never managed to be successful at it. And over the years, they haven’t been able to beat the competition — D-Link, Netgear, and Belkin. These companies constantly innovated and improved their technology, while Apple was left playing catch-up.
Efforts vs Gains
For Apple, it came down to a simple cost-benefit analysis. The amount of effort needed to stay relevant in the market was way too much work for very little payoff.
In the overall picture of things, scrapping routers falls in place with their larger vision. Apple has been cutting off excessive hardware production, and giving more impetus on their Services.
So we have a fair idea where Apple is headed. What we don’t know for certain is what path it will take to reach there. What other demons (products) will it slay on the way to the proverbial mount Olympus? We’ll have to wait and watch.