Apple appears to be dropping AirPort branding for Wi-Fi
Since 1999, when Steve Jobs introduced the iBook as the first portable computer with Wi-Fi capabilities, Apple has used the term AirPort to refer to 802.11 wireless connectivity. The rest of the world knows this technology by the name Wi-Fi, and it appears that with the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple will be changing references to wireless networking from "AirPort" to "Wi-Fi" across the system.
The change resolves a common issue for Mac neophytes, who often search in vain for Wi-Fi controls on their new Macs only to find something confusingly called AirPort. The name change may also explain recent reports that Apple's networking products -- the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule -- are in short supply at some Apple Stores. Perhaps a Wi-Fi product refresh and a change in branding will both accompany the Lion launch next month.
Will you miss the AirPort name on Apple products if it does disappear, or do you think it was a confusing proprietary moniker? Leave your comments below.
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Apple is quietly changing references to wireless networking from AirPort to Wi-Fi
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First of all: Greetings from Germany!
I really wonder why everybody tends to call WLÁN-devices or HotSpots in general "Wi-Fi" as Wi-Fi is (only) a standard to simplify, well... things. ;) And the devices using that term need a special certification to use it!
Here in Germany, almost everybody I know - quite a few people - simply call wireless LANs "WLAN".
PCs (Hello, Windows!) stayed with "drahtlose Netzwerkverbindung" (-> wireless LAN) for quite some time.
So, e.g. working with my iPhone, I tend to switch on "das WLAN" and not "der/die/das (?) Wi-Fi".
As said earlier, I hope the name AirPort stays for the Apple WLAN (Wi-Fi certified)-router/device while the OS X Preferences pane will simply call it WLAN or "Netzwerkeinstellungen" (LAN-prefs) or something..
Greetings from Germany!
I really wonder why everybody tends to call WLÁN-devices or HotSpots in general "Wi-Fi" as Wi-Fi is (only) a standard to simplify, well... things. ;) And the devices using that term need a special certification to use it!
Here in Germany, almost everybody I know - quite a few people - simply call wireless LANs "WLAN".
PCs (Hello, Windows!) stayed with "drahtlose Netzwerkverbindung" (-> wireless LAN) for quite some time.
So, e.g. working with my iPhone, I tend to switch on "das WLAN" and not "der/die/das (?) Wi-Fi".
As said earlier, I hope the name AirPort stays for the Apple WLAN (Wi-Fi certified)-router/device while the OS X Preferences pane will simply call it WLAN or "Netzwerkeinstellungen" (LAN-prefs) or something..
iPort. a4 processor 8 gig cache thunderbolt port up to 200 users streams content from hard drive to connected devices on its network. (mac and pc)
you're welcome
I noticed something interesting about this rebranding. If you go into System Preference's Network pane in Lion and rename the Wi-Fi service to Airport, it takes it just fine, but if you rename it AirPort it immediately snaps back to Wi-Fi, thus preventing you from naming it with that capital P.
June 14 2011 at 9:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMeh. As long as it works well, they can call it whatever they want to.
June 14 2011 at 9:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is incorrect editorial. Apple never referred to WiFi as airport, they referred to their specific hardware implementation that's in all of the machines as AirPort.
June 14 2011 at 7:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
serge
i like airport.
i call my wifi network
air france
(i live in paris)
If I had to guess, I'd say that the Airport branding for Apple's own Wi-Fi solutions will stay firmly in place. To back this up, I'll point out that the "Airport Utility" application (the tool used to configure Apple's Wi-Fi hardware) is still present in the latest Lion developer preview... it's not called "Wi-Fi Utility".
However, it does make sense, from a usability perspective, to call it "Wi-Fi" where connections, settings, and the on/off switch are concerned. You may not always be connecting to an Airport base station, but it's still Wi-Fi. Calling it "Airport" in that context has always confused users, and it's just good user experience to drop the brand there.
I like the airport name and I for one will miss it!
June 14 2011 at 4:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"Will you miss the AirPort name on Apple products if it does disappear, or do you think it was a confusing proprietary moniker?"
Neither, really. Wi-Fi is a bit silly as a name: obviously, "Wi" stands for wireless, but what about "Fi"? Silly or not, the term is familiar and widely recognized.
I think the name is a play on hi-fi which is (or at least was) used to describe speakers and sound systems as having "high-fidelity" audio quality.
I'd always heard that it stood for wireless-fidelity. Anyone old enough to have seen hi-fi sound systems would probably pick up on that immediately.
Wi-Fi really doesn't stand for anything.
It's meant to sound like Hi-Fi, but the Fi is just there to create the resemblance. The Wi-Fi alliance used "wireless fidelity" for a while, but then I guess they realized that the term didn't mean anything. The founding member of the Wi-Fi alliance has said that the name is meaningless, it just sound good and technical.
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