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Apple Cancels AirPower Product

techcrunch.com

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Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#421

Post by sovnade »

golem14 wrote: post #371
mackey wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a report on twitter with serial numbers showing build dates of September and November, along with old copyright dates on the boxes on the new AirPods. Combine that with the "Hey Siri" being shown in "Gather Round" video in September, I bet they were hoping to ship the AirPods before the holidays, but were holding out hope that Airpower would work. https://twitter.com/rouven81/status/1110980080170340352 https://…

My completely uneducated guess is a behind-the-scenes patent dispute or something along those lines...

IFixit has a good article on it. Basically they couldn't get it to pass wireless emissions standards the way they wanted to do it (put your phone anywhere on the pad to charge not, not directly on the circle, etc).

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#422

Post by kalleboo »

icedchocolate wrote: post #347
eridius wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't release products that have no distinguishing features other than "made by Apple in Cupertino". Accessories without distinguishing features they prefer to just work with third parties on (such as Belkin). In fact, I'd wager that this particular Belkin charger was done in cooperation with Apple: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HLZ42/belkin-boost-up-spe...

Not sure I agree. AirPods really have almost no distinguishing features from other earphones. They’re generally worse. The only “feature” is seeing their charge on your phone, which is a pretty lousy differentiator.

> The only “feature” is seeing their charge on your phone

FWIW there are many Bluetooth headphones that show their charge on your phone, it's a standard Bluetooth feature.

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#423

Post by sovnade »

eridius wrote: post #349
arbie wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the differentiator for the $39 silicone iPhone cases?

Cases are like cables. You need to have them available, and the only way to guarantee that they're available is to make them yourself (given that they're not based on industry standards). If case you bought 2 years ago still fit on the new phone today, then there's not much pressure for Apple to have a case, but since cases are tied to specific phone designs and form-factors, the only way to guarantee high-quality ca…

They've been going 2 generations with each form factor. 7/8 were identical, X and XS are identical. I do appreciate that, even though I don't update every gen anyway (or even every two).

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#424

Post by Dylan16807 »

macintux wrote: post #398
dwighttk wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, I'm never paying monthly for my password manager. Thankfully 1Password let me roll back, but I need to find a new way forward at some point. The funny thing is I'd probably be fine paying more every year or so than I would with a monthly fee.

You know 1Password offers a yearly subscription, right? I too didn’t think I’d switch to a subscription model for it, but it’s such useful software for so many purposes, and I’m very happy if it makes the company more sustainable. It’s hard to make money with software. I don’t begrudge them at all.

It's not "I want the term to be yearly" it's "I would pay for permanent upgrades so they could still get money from me repeatedly without a subscription model"

Subscriptions are fine as an offer for software that's getting significant new features all the time. But a password manager is the kind of code that barely needs any devs to keep going once it's already in a good state. And it's the kind of code where integrating an online killswitch is extremely dangerous. There's good reason to stay away from that combination.

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#425

Post by sovnade »

azhenley wrote: post #8
minimaxir wrote: post #2

The whole AirPower saga is a weird event in product development. AirPower compatibility was highlighted as a feature in the packaging of the just-released AirPods 2 : https://twitter.com/itsnicolenguyen/status/11106569269650636... There has to be something that caused this abrupt cancellation.

Something indeed. I don't understand what the issue could be. I have a few $20 wireless chargers that work just fine. I expected Apple to put one in premium packaging and sell it for $150.

Apple's plan was to let you place it anywhere on the mat, not on the very small charging sweet-spot.

Worth the huge premium it would've sold for? Probably not for a good deal of people, but it would've sold.

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#426

Post by sovnade »

covercash wrote: post #111
ghaff wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what you really want to get too. A big charging mat you just toss everything on. TBH I don’t find wireless charging today a particularly big win. It’s a bit easier than plugging in a cable. Of course, in the watch, it eliminates a port which is a win for other reasons.

I find Anker 24w fast charging bricks and 10’ lightening cables are a pretty reasonable way to quickly charge Apple devices while still using them. I bought a cheap 5w wireless charging pad to throw my phone on while I sleep.

My problem is that every charging cable I get seems to fail eventually. Either the charging port in the phone gets loose, filled with lint, or the cable mysteriously stops working. Even expensive Ankers. Meanwhile my no-name QI charger that I bought for my LG G3 like 5 years ago is still working perfectly. No parts to loosen or clog.

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#427

Post by Dylan16807 »

quailmaster wrote: post #313
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eh? The back of the watch itself is flat. John Gruber says he saw a prototype backstage of an event a couple years ago, put his watch on and it started charging just fine, incidentally.

The back of the watch is very much curved. It's not as noticeable when people are wearing them because the watch sits right in between your wrist bones. https://i.gzn.jp/img/2018/09/21/apple-watch-series-4-open/p4...

It's flat enough to stay inside a 7mm charging range. (Or the inch plus that newer chargers can supposedly do.)

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#428

Post by Noctem »

sbuk wrote: post #405
Noctem wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate it too, unfortunately Apple is not always so transparent. One example that comes to mind is their 2010 promise to make FaceTime an open standard. It was Steve Jobs that made that promise in 2010 (one year before his death), and apparently a patent dispute with VirnetX may be to blame, but to my knowledge they haven't made any public statements about it since the initial promise. If legalities are to blam…

I don’t have the source to hand, but I’ve read (or heard on a podcast) that Job’s made that decision on stage. It surprised everybody, including the dev team behind facetime. So it’s less a case of Apple remaining silent, and more Steve being Steve.

I don't know who made the decision (or when), but he did have a slide prepared that said "OPEN" [1] in big letters next to a FaceTime screenshot, which I'd assume means the decision was made at least before taking the stage.

[1] https://youtu.be/AmXc1Mjr5J4?t=5816

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#429

Post by samstave »

minimaxir wrote: post #2

The whole AirPower saga is a weird event in product development. AirPower compatibility was highlighted as a feature in the packaging of the just-released AirPods 2 : https://twitter.com/itsnicolenguyen/status/11106569269650636... There has to be something that caused this abrupt cancellation.

How would you compare AirPower with Cue::cat?

Re: Apple Cancels AirPower Product

#430

Post by samstave »

ulfw wrote: post #408
mackey wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a report on twitter with serial numbers showing build dates of September and November, along with old copyright dates on the boxes on the new AirPods. Combine that with the "Hey Siri" being shown in "Gather Round" video in September, I bet they were hoping to ship the AirPods before the holidays, but were holding out hope that Airpower would work. https://twitter.com/rouven81/status/1110980080170340352 https://…

I am sorry to say but that’s what happens when you don’t have a proper product management org. Unbelievable in a large company like Apple but they do not have a Head of Product / CPO and are basically still a Sales and Marketing company with attached Engineering departments. There has been something very very wrong with products not getting out the door at Apple over the last few years. How does it take years to upda…

The vast amount of vendor management makes the scal of PMing apple products rather unwieldy...
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