AirPort Express

Recalls how Apple entered, then exited, the highly competitive world of internet routers

ON 7 JUNE, 2004, Apple proudly unveiled AirPort Express. It was a 802.11g mobile base station that could be plugged into the wall, providing Internet connections wherever the user went. It’s hard to imagine now, but in 2004 “portable” internet might require all sorts of cables and power supplies — it wasn’t as simple as opening up the hotspot provided by your iPhone. In March 2008, things improved further as Apple updated AirPort Express, introducing the 802.11n wireless standard which it said delivered up to five–times better performance than its predecessor. A second generation of the 802.11n arrived in June 2012.

As significant as the mobile internet developments were, there were also

RANDOM APPLE MEMORY analog and digital audio outputs in the base station. This meant users could connect it to a stereo and use the AirTunes music networking software to wirelessly stream music from iTunes on their Mac or PC. “Users can now play their iTunes music on any stereo in their home — all without wires,” said Steve Jobs at the time of the release. From the start, multiple base stations could be bridged together, allowing music to be played across a wider area.

However, it wasn’t to last. In November 2016 Bloomberg News revealed the team working on AirPort Express and its siblings, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule, had been disbanded. Then, in April 2018, the company confirmed to 9to5Mac that the entire AirPort line had been discontinued.

The demise of AirPort Express wasn’t really a surprise. Wireless routers were never really an industry in which Apple could be said to be a leader and, ultimately, other Apple products like the HomePod provided a better solution for playing music wirelessly. Beyond the HomePod, the legacy of AirPort Express still remains, with the design of Apple TV and even Mac mini closely resembling the base station to this day.