Apple cancelled this, now what?

Apple cancelled this, now what? traces the arc of wireless networking from Apple’s early iBook era through the rise of modern Wi-Fi to the present, where Wi‑Fi 6E routes and mesh systems dominate home networks. The video opens by highlighting Apple’s pivotal role in popularizing Wi‑Fi with the iBook and Airport base stations, emphasizing how Apple’s efforts helped establish Wi‑Fi as a consumer standard. It then chronicles the 802.11 family’s evolution, noting Apple’s push to scale wireless tech from expensive commercial gear to affordable consumer cards, and showing how Airport products once integrated mesh networking, AirPlay, and Time Capsule backups. As speeds and device counts grew at home, the presenter argues that Apple gradually stepped away from routers, culminating in the 2013 final Airport releases and the 2018 discontinuation of the line. The host pivots to current options, praising Asus WiFi 6E routers for delivering the speeds and features that modern households require, including built‑in VPN, parental controls, and robust mesh capabilities. The overall takeaway is a reflection on how far consumer networking has come, and why users may need to turn to third‑party ecosystems to achieve top performance and future‑proofing. In closing, the video invites viewers to consider how Apple might reenter the space and what benefits a refreshed Apple router could bring to the ecosystem. The narrative blends historical context with practical recommendations, underscoring the enduring importance of fast, reliable wireless access in today’s connected homes.

Topics · technology · history · networking · consumer-electronics