After Apple discontinued its AirPort line-up (which was a mistake), one of my favorite replacements was the eero home Wi-Fi system, which is handsome, easy-to-use, and pricey. In other words, it’s a product Apple could’ve/should’ve made.
At the time that Apple canned the AirPort devices (late 2016), I felt it was a mistake even though the products hadn’t been substantially upgraded in three years. Now that Amazon has scooped up eero, I wish the tech giant would revive the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule.
The products were easy to use and worked great in the Apple ecosystem. Ironically, Apple ranked highest in overall satisfaction among wireless router manufacturers in a 2016 study by J.P. Power — after they were end-of-life’d.
Perhaps Apple might build routers into a future Apple TV or HomePod. How about an Apple TV/AirPort Base Station hybrid or a HomePod/AirPort Base Station hybrid? I know that Apple may be spreading its resources over a lot of product lines, but since the company wants to make connectivity and computing as simple as possible, it seems strange that they don’t want to control such an essential part of the home online experience.
