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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 The next iPhone in 6-7 years doesn't support Airtags v1 anymore as it is obsolete now for many years.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.

This might underestimate Apple consumerism (I include myself in that).

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.