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Apple leads in 802.11g Wi-Fi revenue, No. 2 in sales

updated 01:05 am EST, Thu February 19, 2004

Apple leads Wi-Fi industry

Apple leads the , according to Business Week: "According to research by tech tracker In-Stat/MDR, Apple grabbed 20.2% of the global market for NIC and wireless access points offering the 802.11g flavor of Wi-Fi. That put the Mac folks behind only Cisco subsidiary and industry leader Linksys in sales of gear running 802.11g, which is quickly become the de facto standard for consumer and small-business Wi-Fi use. Still, if Apple is No. 2 in sales, it leads in revenues. In 2003, it pulled in $148.3 million in 802.11g revenues, putting Jobs & Co. ahead of Linksys by some $32 million."

by MacNN Staff

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02/19, 02:35am | report spam | close Reply |
RiPE

WiFi is just RiPE for 10-15 more minutes of infamy.

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02/19, 04:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Of course

They have the highest reveneues, since their WiFi devices are more expensive, my Airport card was �70 when PCMCIA cards wer �40-50.

I know it down to quality, volume and demand, but it is true.

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02/19, 04:37am | report spam | close Reply |
Now if only...

...Apple had pop up ads like MacNN they might sell even more WiFi...

MacNN is just RIPE for a boycot due to annoying pop up ads...

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02/19, 05:41am | report spam | close Reply |
Neophilia

WiFi is the the new Megahertz

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02/19, 06:56am | report spam | close Reply |
MacNN Popups?

MacNN has popups? Thank goodness I'm using Safari, or I wouldn't be back...

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02/19, 08:14am | report spam | close Reply |
Misleading statement?

"One major downside, though, is that Airport base stations can only handle Windows machines with 802.11b cards. "

That doesn't make any sense at all... Granted I haven't tried, but if its the same hardware, then there is no reason why windows equipped 802.11g machines won't work with an AE station.

In fact, Apple posted a public preview of a Windows admin utility for the AE base. http://www.apple.com/airport/

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02/19, 09:10am | report spam | close Reply |
Not really misleading

I believe they may be correct. The 802.11g that Apple is peddling is a little different from say Linksys, I believe the 802.11g standard is still pending, but when its finalized I'm sure Apple will implement it with a Firmware update.

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02/19, 09:37am | report spam | close Reply |
They use the standard

I remember when the firmware update came out to make basestations fully comply with the g standard.

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02/19, 10:06am | report spam | close Reply |
Must be a reason

Well, well--leading the pack in another mass-market area.

And while I'd be inclined to believe that the #1 in revenues despite being #2 in sales is because Apple's hardware is more expensive (which, generally speaking, it is), why is Apple still selling 20% of all 802.11g gear?

Isn't dirt-cheap supposed to move product? Could it be that people actually do buy quality sometimes?

(And unless us Mac users have a massively disproportionate amount of the WiFi market, you can't say it's just because Apple users buy Apple stuff.)

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02/19, 12:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
Windows 802.11g works!

I don't have any problems using my work laptop (running Windows XP) using a Linksys WPC54g card with my AEBS - not sure why anyone would claim this does not work...

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02/19, 12:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
Apple 802.11g is fine...

1. The 802.11g standard has been finalized and approved since June 2003.

2. Apple's 802.11g is no different than anyone elses. In fact, it uses the same chipset as Linksys and BuffaloTech 802.11g.

3. I have used my AE powerbook with non-apple access points, and I have used non-apple laptops on an Apple AE base station. Even using WPA...

Stop spreading FUD if you don't know the truth.

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02/19, 12:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Now drivers

Now if we could just get driver info from Broadcom (maker of the 802.11g chipset Apple and many others use) so Kismet/Kismac could put the card in monitor mode...

Many of us are network admins who bought a Powerbook or iBook specifically for wireless auditing (easy and excellent with older Airport cards). I was disappointed to learn Broadcom is being a holdout. Either that or Apple should provide full support in their driver (even better).

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02/19, 01:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Broadcom Drivers

I agree. What do we ask Broadcom for, to open ther API or something like that? Maybe some customer pressure could help here...

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02/19, 03:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Broadcom Drivers

Basically, yes - they need to provide open details of how to talk to their hardware, so a kernel developer can write a driver. It's too bad Apple didn't go with the Prism chipset, which has a completely open spec.

Unfortunately I doubt Mac users have much oompf when it comes to contacting Broadcom, even though we represent a noticeable chunk of their 54g income (consider that I've bought two 54g-based base stations from two different vendors to complement my Macs). We're "only" an OEM customer of theirs; the vendor you paid for the card is Apple. So it might be better to ask Apple to provide a complete driver, pressuring Broadcom for the details if necessary. Or, both. :)

http://www.apple.com/feedback/
http://www.broadcom.com/contact/feedback.php
mailto:info@54g.org

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02/19, 03:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
quality?

I think they are just getting more profits for the same thing. Greed is more like it!!!
Thats our little apple company..pretty much like the music industry as far as making huge profits and taking the consumer for all they can get.

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02/19, 04:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Give it time

802.11g isn't even a year old. Apple got a huge headstart on the market. It won't last with their pricing. When I shopped for a new wireless router, I took one look at the Airport station and never considered it again. Even if it was the same price as the Linksys router I ended up getting, I would have chosen the Linksys. Give it time, cheaper will win out in the end.

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02/19, 06:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
pop-up?

What about those pop-ups? I tried with both Safari (blocker set to off) and IE and I didn't see a single one... maybe a "souvenir" from a previous website? :P

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02/19, 08:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Must be a reason

In my experience Mac users do have a disproportionate presence in 802.11g. They used to in 802.11b, but that's fading. It's mostly an effect of being an early mover - when the iMac came out, who were USB peripheral sales to? Almost exclusively Mac, but after a year or so that wasn't true any longer.

The profits are pretty out of line, and I'd expect they're mostly in the wildly overpriced Airport base stations. With rebates you can buy an 802.11b gateway for under $30 Canadian now, and I got my Belkin 54g jobby for less than C$50 (US $30). With the NICs we don't have a choice - we have to buy Apple's offering - though fortunately they're not as significantly overpriced (if still generally more than you'd pay elsewhere for an Orinoco or Broadcom 54g chipset). But it beats me why anyone would buy the base station - it does have a couple of unique features, but most people don't need them. I guess it's just branding, and people's assumption that they need an Apple gateway to work with their Apple computer and card. They must be doing it in droves to support those sales figures.

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Apple leads in 802.11g Wi-Fi revenue, No. 2 in sales

updated 01:05 am EST, Thu February 19, 2004

Apple leads Wi-Fi industry

RiPE

Of course

Now if only...

Neophilia

MacNN Popups?

Misleading statement?

Not really misleading

They use the standard

Must be a reason

Windows 802.11g works!

Apple 802.11g is fine...

Now drivers

Broadcom Drivers

re: Broadcom Drivers

quality?

Give it time

pop-up?

re: Must be a reason

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Apple leads in 802.11g Wi-Fi revenue, No. 2 in sales

updated 01:05 am EST, Thu February 19, 2004

Apple leads Wi-Fi industry

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RiPE

Of course

Now if only...

Neophilia

MacNN Popups?

Misleading statement?

Not really misleading

They use the standard

Must be a reason

Windows 802.11g works!

Apple 802.11g is fine...

Now drivers

Broadcom Drivers

re: Broadcom Drivers

quality?

Give it time

pop-up?

re: Must be a reason

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