7 ms·

Not a bad price, but it does require an existing Airtag. Ten years is a very long time in tech. I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functi

by jerlam 2y ago

Not a bad price, but it does require an existing Airtag. Ten years is a very long time in tech. I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functioning in 2035, and there are already rumors of a new Airtag and possibly a newer protocol coming up.

spiderfarmer 2y ago
If Apple kills existing Airtags any time soon they effectively kill the product line. So they won’t.
- minton 2y ago
  This might underestimate Apple consumerism (I include myself in that).
- tpetry 2y ago
  Its really easy for them, and this also in line how they would operate: Add a new Airtag v2 protocol to the next iPhone and sell new Airtags only using that protocol. Why should you buy them? They could have different improvements you would like. Start deprecating Airtag v1 in 3-4 years - and only sell new ones. There are now 3-4 iPhone generations that can handle the new version. The next iPhone in 6-7 years doesn't support Airtags v1 anymore as it is obsolete now for many years. Voila, they killed Airtags v1 in less than 10 years without killing the entire product line by switching to a new version. Is that unrealistic? No, thats their normal way how they deprecate stuff. It still works but only with old hardware or by not getting new updates anymore (iOS, macOS).
  - BudaDude 2y ago
    I would agree with you if this was a main line product (iPad, Macs, iPhone). You could argue the Apple Watch is a main line product as well. But this is an accessory line. Apple is pretty good at keeping accessories working for as long as possible. AirPods v1 still work. A Magic Mouse bought 10 years ago still works as long as the battery isn't dead.
    - withinboredom 2y ago
      actually ... it doesn't. Well, you can't use them with a phone anymore because they did exactly as described. The new mice work fine though.
  - samatman 2y ago
    This is not at all in line with how Apple operates, it's diametrically opposed to it in fact. I suppose you could contradict me by providing a list of the products Apple has deprecated this way. Can you?
    - hatsix 2y ago
      It's exactly how Apple operates. The last Apple device with Firewire was produced in 2012, though it was sold for several more years. MacOS 13 (2022) dropped the Firewire CoreAudio driver (as well as other, more niche support for Firewire). So... exactly 10 years. If you're going to put me in a bucket, I'd be in the "Apple Hater" bucket, but I honestly think that the way that they do this is fine. It would have been better if they had jumped on the USB bandwagon earlier, they certainly love to build their own solutions that are incompatible with where the rest of the industry (see also, their proprietary wireless audio, their proprietary bluetooth codec, their proprietary thunderbolt extensions, their proprietary magsafe power connectors, their proprietary Lightning cable/connector, their forking of webkit off of khtml, their changes to webkit that are part of Safari but haven't been pushed upstream to webkit) Anyways, this is exactly their MO and it's not bad. Apple doesn't need you to contradict everything people say about Apple.
      - samatman 2y ago
        Apple sold the first widely-available computer with USB connections, the iMac G3. > To replace the removed ports, the iMac has Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, which were faster and cheaper than Apple Desktop Bus and serial ports but were very new—the standard was not finalized until after the iMac's release—and unsupported by any third-party Mac peripheral. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G3#Design It would not be possible for them to jump on a bandwagon they started any earlier than they did. > The last Apple device with Firewire was produced in 2012 Thunderbolt supports the Firewire protocol in the transport layer. So this means that people who need to support a Firewire device need a dongle now. Apple used to sell the adapter, apparently it's been discontinued, but they're still manufactured by third parties, and the originals available on the secondhand market. Which, given that Firewire is dead and buried, and no one is making new Firewire stuff, is also where you'd need to go to get something expecting Firewire to begin with. I do not see this as the problem you seem to.
  - tonygiorgio 2y ago
    Doing a v2 isn’t the same as “killing AirTags.” V2 could even have the same exact size and it would still be useful, just swap out. Worst case, buy a v1 to v2 adapter if it’s smaller, or hell, just buy another $20 10 year battery pack. If you’re protecting $10k equipment, who cares about spending $20. Piece of mind and durability matters a lot.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  If the product line stops making sense or enough money they'll kill it. They're no Google, but it won't be the first product line that goes belly up. The best scenario would be an industry standard that is widely more interesting than AirTags and works around the current compromises, letting Apple expand support to a wider audience. E.g. if the stalking problem had an elegant solution.
smileybarry 2y ago
AirTags use the same Find My protocol that's been out for years before them, I doubt Apple will cut them off. They also get regular software updates, so the hardware should last that.
roger_ 2y ago
> I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functioning in 2035 I'd agree if it were any company other than Apple. And if Apple goes under by 2035 then AirTags will be the least of our concern.
chadash 2y ago
> Ten years is a very long time in tech. Well, they certainly _might_ be functioning in ten years from now. Conservatively, you get 5 years of use out of this, which isn't bad for $15-20, depending on your use case.
- jonhohle 2y ago
  I replace AirTag batteries every 6 months to be safe, so $15 (plus batteries) isn’t significantly more expensive over 5 years.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
csomar 2y ago
While Apple products become obsolete, they are not exactly killed. i.e. your 15 year old macbook still functions but is limited. The air tag is a bit different because deprecating the protocol essentially kills it completely. I highly doubt they do that unless they are remove airtags completely from their product line.
ShakataGaNai 2y ago
They are coming up on 4 years old. I have quite a number of them and do have to replace batteries frequently enough that it can get annoying. I'm sure Apple will innovate and come up with something newer/better/etc at some point. But it's unlikely the gen1 devices will go away anytime soon. Even if the real life is only... 5 years, that still saves a number of battery changes for devices that maybe you don't want to deal with regularly. And with the fact that Apple had enough demand to increase the limit from 16 to 32 per account ( https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/12/airtag-limit/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/12/airtag-limit/ ). Clearly people have bought into the ecosystem in a big way. 30 Airtags * $25 each is $750. I don't think they'll decommission the gen1 system anytime soon with that much investment. Plus Apple is surprisingly good at supporting their hardware for a reasonable amount of time. The iPhone XR from 2018 is still supported by iOS 18.

by jerlam 2y ago

spiderfarmer 2y ago

If Apple kills existing Airtags any time soon they effectively kill the product line. So they won’t.

minton 2y ago
This might underestimate Apple consumerism (I include myself in that).
tpetry 2y ago
Its really easy for them, and this also in line how they would operate: Add a new Airtag v2 protocol to the next iPhone and sell new Airtags only using that protocol. Why should you buy them? They could have different improvements you would like. Start deprecating Airtag v1 in 3-4 years - and only sell new ones. There are now 3-4 iPhone generations that can handle the new version. The next iPhone in 6-7 years doesn't support Airtags v1 anymore as it is obsolete now for many years. Voila, they killed Airtags v1 in less than 10 years without killing the entire product line by switching to a new version. Is that unrealistic? No, thats their normal way how they deprecate stuff. It still works but only with old hardware or by not getting new updates anymore (iOS, macOS).
- BudaDude 2y ago
  I would agree with you if this was a main line product (iPad, Macs, iPhone). You could argue the Apple Watch is a main line product as well. But this is an accessory line. Apple is pretty good at keeping accessories working for as long as possible. AirPods v1 still work. A Magic Mouse bought 10 years ago still works as long as the battery isn't dead.
  - withinboredom 2y ago
    actually ... it doesn't. Well, you can't use them with a phone anymore because they did exactly as described. The new mice work fine though.
- samatman 2y ago
  This is not at all in line with how Apple operates, it's diametrically opposed to it in fact. I suppose you could contradict me by providing a list of the products Apple has deprecated this way. Can you?
  - hatsix 2y ago
    It's exactly how Apple operates. The last Apple device with Firewire was produced in 2012, though it was sold for several more years. MacOS 13 (2022) dropped the Firewire CoreAudio driver (as well as other, more niche support for Firewire). So... exactly 10 years. If you're going to put me in a bucket, I'd be in the "Apple Hater" bucket, but I honestly think that the way that they do this is fine. It would have been better if they had jumped on the USB bandwagon earlier, they certainly love to build their own solutions that are incompatible with where the rest of the industry (see also, their proprietary wireless audio, their proprietary bluetooth codec, their proprietary thunderbolt extensions, their proprietary magsafe power connectors, their proprietary Lightning cable/connector, their forking of webkit off of khtml, their changes to webkit that are part of Safari but haven't been pushed upstream to webkit) Anyways, this is exactly their MO and it's not bad. Apple doesn't need you to contradict everything people say about Apple.
    - samatman 2y ago
      Apple sold the first widely-available computer with USB connections, the iMac G3. > To replace the removed ports, the iMac has Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, which were faster and cheaper than Apple Desktop Bus and serial ports but were very new—the standard was not finalized until after the iMac's release—and unsupported by any third-party Mac peripheral. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G3#Design It would not be possible for them to jump on a bandwagon they started any earlier than they did. > The last Apple device with Firewire was produced in 2012 Thunderbolt supports the Firewire protocol in the transport layer. So this means that people who need to support a Firewire device need a dongle now. Apple used to sell the adapter, apparently it's been discontinued, but they're still manufactured by third parties, and the originals available on the secondhand market. Which, given that Firewire is dead and buried, and no one is making new Firewire stuff, is also where you'd need to go to get something expecting Firewire to begin with. I do not see this as the problem you seem to.
- tonygiorgio 2y ago
  Doing a v2 isn’t the same as “killing AirTags.” V2 could even have the same exact size and it would still be useful, just swap out. Worst case, buy a v1 to v2 adapter if it’s smaller, or hell, just buy another $20 10 year battery pack. If you’re protecting $10k equipment, who cares about spending $20. Piece of mind and durability matters a lot.
makeitdouble 2y ago
If the product line stops making sense or enough money they'll kill it. They're no Google, but it won't be the first product line that goes belly up. The best scenario would be an industry standard that is widely more interesting than AirTags and works around the current compromises, letting Apple expand support to a wider audience. E.g. if the stalking problem had an elegant solution.

smileybarry 2y ago

AirTags use the same Find My protocol that's been out for years before them, I doubt Apple will cut them off. They also get regular software updates, so the hardware should last that.

roger_ 2y ago

> I wouldn't be confident that the Airtag protocol will be functioning in 2035 I'd agree if it were any company other than Apple. And if Apple goes under by 2035 then AirTags will be the least of our concern.

chadash 2y ago

> Ten years is a very long time in tech. Well, they certainly _might_ be functioning in ten years from now. Conservatively, you get 5 years of use out of this, which isn't bad for $15-20, depending on your use case.

jonhohle 2y ago
I replace AirTag batteries every 6 months to be safe, so $15 (plus batteries) isn’t significantly more expensive over 5 years.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

csomar 2y ago

While Apple products become obsolete, they are not exactly killed. i.e. your 15 year old macbook still functions but is limited. The air tag is a bit different because deprecating the protocol essentially kills it completely. I highly doubt they do that unless they are remove airtags completely from their product line.

ShakataGaNai 2y ago

They are coming up on 4 years old. I have quite a number of them and do have to replace batteries frequently enough that it can get annoying. I'm sure Apple will innovate and come up with something newer/better/etc at some point. But it's unlikely the gen1 devices will go away anytime soon. Even if the real life is only... 5 years, that still saves a number of battery changes for devices that maybe you don't want to deal with regularly. And with the fact that Apple had enough demand to increase the limit from 16 to 32 per account ( https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/12/airtag-limit/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/12/airtag-limit/ ). Clearly people have bought into the ecosystem in a big way. 30 Airtags * $25 each is $750. I don't think they'll decommission the gen1 system anytime soon with that much investment. Plus Apple is surprisingly good at supporting their hardware for a reasonable amount of time. The iPhone XR from 2018 is still supported by iOS 18.