AirPort base stations are beginning to sell out or disappear entirely from Apple’s online and retail stores in select countries, a few weeks after Apple announced it has discontinued the lineup of routers.
The first casualty is the AirPort Extreme, now listed as “sold out” on Apple’s online store in the United States, and unavailable for pickup at Apple’s retail stores across the country. The base station remains available in limited quantities in select other countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, and Singapore.
Category: Apple
Bondi Blue iPhone X Case? Yes, Please⇢
There’s a new Indiegogo page that looks right up my alley. Spigen is releasing iPhone X cases designed to remind people of the iMac G3.
I don’t even use a case on my iPhone X, but I’ve backed it. I can even forgive them for mispronouncing the name of the iPhone X in their video.
Kbase Article of the Week: iMac - Technical Specifications⇢
The specs of the original iMac really show how far things have come.
Pure Zen⇢
Mark Wilson, writing at Fast Company, has discovered how good System 7 was.
Apple Posts Record Q2 Results⇢
Apple has just published its financial results for Q2 2018. The company posted revenue of $61.1 billion, an increase of 16% from the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.1 million iPads, 52.2 million iPhones, and 4.1 million Macs during the quarter.
Revenue, iPhones and iPads were all up year-over-year; the Mac was down a touch. Services is up 31% over this time last year.
Gruber, on Marzipan⇢
John Gruber, after reporting that the name “Marzipan” isn’t this project’s real code name, and before saying that he doesn’t expect to see this at WWDC 2018:
I don’t have extensive details, but basically it sounds like a declarative control API. The general idea is that rather than writing classic procedural code to, say, make a button, then configure the button, then position the button inside a view, you instead declare the button and its attributes using some other form. HTML is probably the most easily understood example. In HTML you don’t procedurally create elements like paragraphs, images, and tables — you declare them with tags and attributes in markup. There’s an industry-wide trend toward declaration, perhaps best exemplified by React, that could be influencing Apple in this direction.
The AirPower Problem⇢
Imagine an alternate universe where the AirPower and the wireless charging case for the AirPods weren’t announced until, say, the opening keynote of WWDC this year with same-day availability. Sure, buyers of iPhones and Apple Watches that were released last year would have to suffer through several tedious months of wondering why Apple didn’t make their own charging pad because many of the ones out there right now aren’t very good, but the reaction to its then-immediate availability would have been a classic example of underpromising and overdelivering.
Apple Killing Its Airport Base Station Line, For Realsies This Time⇢
The longstanding rumors of Apple exiting the WiFi router market were true: the company is officially discontinuing its AirPort and Time Capsule base stations. An Apple spokesperson told Engadget that the company would continue to provide hardware and software support (such as patching bugs and vulnerabilities), but the devices themselves will only be available “while supplies last.” The tech giant will post a series of knowledge base documents over the next few weeks to help guide customers wondering what to buy.
Mac Hardware Should Be More Flexible⇢
No matter what the future may bring to the Mac, I think most people would agree that Apple has remained quite conservative when it comes to design of its computers. And when considering where it might travel next, I took a look at one of Apple’s oldest competitors: Microsoft.
Tim Cook, on Merging Device Lines⇢
Apple’s CEO, in an interview with Peter Wells for The Sydney Morning Herald, when asked about the difference between the Mac and iOS:
We don’t believe in sort of watering down one for the other. Both [The Mac and iPad] are incredible. One of the reasons that both of them are incredible is because we pushed them to do what they do well. And if you begin to merge the two … you begin to make trade offs and compromises.
Serenity Caldwell’s Amazing 9.7-inch iPad Review⇢
Serenity Caldwell, writing at iMore:
It’s no secret to say that the iPad has changed how I work and think on my devices. I use it for work, roller derby, casual sketching and idea generation, watching movies, and so much more. And it’s why I’ve continually been bullish on the device, even when sales lagged and great multitasking was but a rumor on the road map.
To me, the 2018 base-model 9.7-inch iPad is a special beast: It hits a line drive right through the company’s fabled intersection of technology and liberal arts — and at the right price point. The iPad Pro did it first, but at a cost unattainable for all but the tinkerers and serious artists, and without iOS 11’s crucial multitasking features. At $329, the iPad offers a low-end tablet experience unlike any other on the market. Add an extra $99 for Apple Pencil, and Apple has created the best device for all-purpose education, period.