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(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
Despitemy wishes, it seemed unlikely that Apple would do a 360 and bring AirPort back as a standalone product. Though after the launch of the Studio Display, maybe not impossible. However, I missed a potentially genius idea.
(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
Mark Gurman atBloombergsuggests a solution: put the AirPort technology into an Apple HomePod mini. This makes perfect sense. The idea of these small smart speakers is to have one in every room so that you can communicate with it easily and create multi-room audio. The other thing you need in pretty much the same place is a Mesh Wi-Fi node. So if your Mesh Wi-Fi nodewasyour smart speaker it would be two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Netgear’s Orbi does this already withAmazon Alexaand a Harman Kardon speaker built into its Mesh Wi-Fio extender, andSonosuses its own closed mesh network to connect its speakers. I’m surprisedAmazonhasn’t done with its Echo and eero devices.
A HomePod with Mesh would definitely be a huge advantage to anyone looking to upgrade to a Mesh system as well as a reason to pick an Apple smart speaker over aGoogle, Amazon or Sonos. I don’t think we’d be likely to see the return of a hard drive in there too like the AirPort Time Capsule, especially with a push to use iCloud. But I’d settle for just a return to that AirPort Utility app for connecting to my network any day.
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