At this time, the market is too small, and Apple can't possibly make their desired margins on them and compete with the others on the market. It's just not worth it.
> At this time, the market is too small, and Apple can't possibly make their desired margins on them and compete with the others on the market.
Disagree.
There are over 2 billion Apple devices deployed and tens of millions more get sold quarter, so market size isn't an issue.
There's no reason to believe Apple wouldn't be able to get their average margin of around 35% on a security device if they wanted to.
And what competition? The Apple branded security key would be the only one available via the online store that can be bundled with any Mac, iPad or iPhone purchase. And certainly the only one designed specifically for the Apple ecosystem.
It's just a matter of whether or not Apple can add features above and beyond what's typically available.
An easy one would be Find My integration like the AirPods Pro 2 case or the AirTag. Using Find My, the owner could periodically check (or Apple could automate it) that security key is where it's supposed to be, like a relative's house or bank deposit box.
Adding a U1 chip would allow the security key to be found if it were misplaced in a user's home… or in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake.
And of course they could add TouchID to it, acting as a second factor so only the intended user could use it.
I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of all the features Apple is uniquely positioned to add to a security key.
And most Apple products are made by a Taiwanese company manufacturing in mainland China based on Apple's instructions with Apple branding slapped on them (of course).
The difference is just the 'Designed in California' part, which in the case of a security key should be negligible in terms of cost outlay.
Disagree.
There are over 2 billion Apple devices deployed and tens of millions more get sold quarter, so market size isn't an issue.
There's no reason to believe Apple wouldn't be able to get their average margin of around 35% on a security device if they wanted to.
And what competition? The Apple branded security key would be the only one available via the online store that can be bundled with any Mac, iPad or iPhone purchase. And certainly the only one designed specifically for the Apple ecosystem.
It's just a matter of whether or not Apple can add features above and beyond what's typically available.
An easy one would be Find My integration like the AirPods Pro 2 case or the AirTag. Using Find My, the owner could periodically check (or Apple could automate it) that security key is where it's supposed to be, like a relative's house or bank deposit box.
Adding a U1 chip would allow the security key to be found if it were misplaced in a user's home… or in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake.
And of course they could add TouchID to it, acting as a second factor so only the intended user could use it.
I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of all the features Apple is uniquely positioned to add to a security key.