No More AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule from Apple

Posted by Kirhat | Wednesday, June 22, 2016 | | 0 comments »

AirPort Extreme
It appears that Apple is no longer selling the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule in U.S. retail stores, according to a new report. As first noted by MacRumors, shoppers at several Apple Stores have reported that the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule are out of stock, and at least one support representative has confirmed that Apple pulled all stock from U.S. Stores.

One person who visited an outlet in Beverly Hills was told that Apple has recalled units from every location. A support representative contacted by MacRumors echoed this, claiming that the Time Capsule has been pulled as well.

Apple has also reportedly removed Personal Pickup as an option for online orders. AppleInsider can confirm that the option has disappeared from cities as diverse as Austin, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and New York City.

Oddly, the products are still said to be available in many stores in Australia, Canada, and Europe, though Apple is sometimes slow to propagate changes outside the United States.

This discrepancy could lend credence to the idea that these stockouts are related compliance with a 2 June 2016 deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is the date at which routers approved under an older set of rules can't be sold unless they meet newer security regulations which have been phased in since 2014.

Apple could also be planning to refresh both devices at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The products have sat unchanged since 2013, even as Wi-Fi and storage technologies have improved. The AirPort Express — still on sale — is yet more outdated, lacking 802.11ac support.

Another possibility is that Apple will simply discontinue the products entirely, although that would leave the company without a first-party option for connecting Macs and iOS devices to Wi-Fi.

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