About a week ago, it was reported that Apple had disbanded the team that was working on their wireless router products, such as the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule. It is unclear why this happened, but presumably Apple is trying to streamline their offerings by letting other people make it for them.
However it seems that by doing so, Apple could be missing out on a huge opportunity. According to a new study released by J.D. Power (via MacRumors), it has been found that Apple’s AirPort routers have ranked the highest amongst wireless router manufacturers in terms of customer satisfaction. This means that for some reason, Apple has decided to kill a product that was doing very well amongst customers.
It is possible that maybe Apple isn’t making as much money from its AirPort routers, which means that even though customers are satisfied, it isn’t profitable enough for Apple to keep around when they can focus their efforts on other products and projects. The study found that Apple beat out brands like ASUS, D-Link, TP-Link, and Netgear, just to name a few.
Will this survey change Apple’s mind at whether or not they should exit the router market? It seems unlikely, especially after Apple killed its Thunderbolt Display in favor of a partnership with LG, despite the fact that Thunderbolt Displays were loved by users in spite of its hefty price tag.
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