Thoughts on Tech News of Note - 03-27-2026

• Apple Means Business
• The Potential Demise of OnePlus
• FCC Foreign Router Ban

Look, no AI stories this week! Enjoy it while it lasts.

Apple Means Business
Apple has consolidated its enterprise products into one new product aptly named "Apple Business". It combines mobile device management (MDM), business email, calendar, and directory services; managed work accounts (allowing for work and personal data to live on a device together but separately), business branding and location management, and a new feature - ads in Apple Maps.

Most people have understandably paid more attention to ads in Apple Maps because it instantly seems both unlike and totally like Apple. The idea of ads in an Apple product might seem incongruous at first with Apple's privacy first your-data-is-your-data mentality, but Apple is trying to very carefully walk a line here between consumer privacy and features appealing to businesses. Appealing to businesses can be a very lucrative angle and Apple needs stable services that generate repeatable income. Apple has been careful to communicate that user locations will not be shared and personal data stays on your device. Ads will appear in search results and will be clearly labeled. Businesses can also pay to be featured in new "suggested places", which are recommendations made based on trends in user data. Businesses may also be able to make their pinned locations pulse or show special colors on the map to make them stand out from other non-sponsored search results.

Like many people, I raised one eyebrow when I saw that Apple was bringing ads to maps. But as I read more about how they plan to implement ads, it seems that their approach is reasonable and not heavy-handed. I don't expect it to be much different than opening Google Maps and seeing a Dunkin' down the street with a label next to it that says, "get the free app and fuel your day" or a Burger King not far away that says "Never had a Whopper like this". In Google Maps, when restaurants have fork/knife icons instead of branded icons, you can instinctively understand that they didn't pay for sponsored spots on the map. Apple's version of ads may not even be that obnoxious, if you consider that to be obnoxious. Apple's sponsored results will appear at the top of the list and will likely be more obvious on the map in some way, but regular use of the app may not change that much if you aren't frequently searching for locations or waypoints.

Users of Apple Maps may fundamentally object to the idea of ads in maps, but it's a smart business move for Apple. Most users are used to seeing sponsored ads not only maps apps, but in many apps. I do believe Apple can implement this in Maps in a way that won't get in the way or at least won't be any more intrusive than the approach used by other competing apps.

BTW, while doing some quick research on this topic, I came across a sponsored result for a restaurant near me that I've never visited but plan to visit in the future now. Ads work.

The Potential Demise of OnePlus
I have often internally lamented my lack of experience with Blackberry and have bemoaned the demise of my beloved brands HTC and LG. The smartphone market is in a rough phase right now; tariffs have caused pricing confusion, fierce competition (at least outside of the United States) requires brands to do more to stand out, the RAM shortage places further pressure on pricing and availability of crucial parts, and the commoditization of the smartphone have made it harder to sustain a profitable business.

OnePlus came on the scene in an era where smartphone specs still mattered to a vocal percentage of the phone buying market. Carl Pei, one of the co-founders of the brand, was really adept at navigating the delicate line of producing a phone at a price that sported enough advanced specs coupled with a reasonable price to grab attention from that picky market segment as well as the often-unforgiving tech press. OnePlus quickly became the brand that was known for providing more value for the money than most other brands by focusing on the features that really mattered to power users. Their marketing treaded shaky ground at times, but on the whole managed to win over a core audience and gain loyal fans.

I won't spend too much time waxing poetic about the history of the brand. Most will say that the brand lost something critical when Carl Pei moved on to found his own brand with Nothing, a brand that has tried to continue to keep lit the original spark that set OnePlus apart in the marketplace. The bottom line for North America is that competition in the smartphone market is already somewhat sparse. Most people buy an iPhone or a Samsung phone and very few people buy Google Pixel, Motorola, or anything else. I don't think I've ever seen a OnePlus phone in person outside of a store that sold them. I've never held one in my hands, and I certainly never got to play with the UI or experience any of their unique features. Yet, I'm sad to see another brand possibly go away even if it wasn't terribly popular. OnePlus presented a different value proposition and focused on features that Apple and Samsung tended to ignore. Their relationship with Hasselblad showed an intent to elevate the camera experience and using high-capacity silicon carbide batteries and implementing super-fast 80W "SuperVOOC" charging acknowledged the battery anxiety many users feel using phones with typical tiny batteries. While Apple and Samsung have certainly highlighted what they feel are the cutting-edge features of their cameras, they really haven't had to work as hard to market them nor have they felt the need to tread into the world of super-fast charging and innovative battery technology. They know that in the US market, people will largely keep buying what they have been buying. And with another brand out of the way, there will be even less incentive to push at the edges.

FCC Foreign Router Ban
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the importation and sale of new routers produced in foreign countries. The ban covers all consumer-grade routers and includes models sold or leased by internet service providers (ISPs) like Xfinity, Spectrum, and Cox Communications. Consumer-grade routers and devices from ISPs are currently allowed to receive security patches under a temporary waiver until March 1, 2027, at which point the FCC will need to determine whether to continue to allow them to be updated or to discontinue the waiver. Enterprise gear is not the target of this ban, but there are gray areas here that have yet to be made black-and-white. It could be that the consumer-grade umbrella will ultimately cover all equipment that can be installed by a customer. If that is the end result, only rack-mounted enterprise-grade gear might be unaffected by the ban. But the FCC has also signaled that it intends to review enterprise gear next, so more specific language may be published in the near future.

For most people, this doesn't present an urgent issue today. Customers can continue to purchase routers that have previously been approved by the FCC and stores are allowed to sell them. It also appears that these approved models can continue to be imported into the United States. But any new models that have not yet gone through the FCC approval process will not be approved unless they have received conditional approval from the United States Department of Defense (DOD) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is expected that to receive conditional approval, manufacturers will need to agree to move manufacturing processes to the United States. It is not currently known what lengths manufacturers will need to go to acquire conditional approval from the DOD or DHS.

The FCC has stated that this mandate is to protect national security, but as some have pointed out, it doesn't seem to do much in terms of protection. If the concern is with foreign made products, almost all products are currently made overseas (note that Elon Musk's Starlink does have some manufacturing in the USA), but these products that are in the marketplace today will continue to be sold, used, and even updated regardless of whether they are technically "safe". No announcements have been made regarding any need for additional certification, testing, or auditing. And manufacturing products in the United States does not guarantee increased safety and security. The real angle seems to be the old story of restoring US manufacturing glory. This administration wants more products to be made here in this country. And while that is not a bad or unreasonable desire, mandating that companies do so without providing them with any real assistance or reasonable timeframes to make the transition easier seems short-sighted at best. We know that there will be a need for more Americans (or robots, realistically) to be trained, hired, and deployed, and there will be a need to build out manufacturing infrastructure here that currently does not exist. These are very expensive and time-consuming ventures that the administration does not seem to want to acknowledge. And more importantly, the administration does not seem to want to acknowledge the impact this could have on product pricing for the American market over time. To address the concerns the administration has with the lack of manufacturing in the United States, a comprehensive plan is needed to address all facets of manufacturing and then government and private enterprise need to partner to get it implemented. But there seems to be no will for any of this. There is just will to make noise and cause unrest.

Depending on how things play out over the next year, the pressing issue will be the potential lack of security updates starting in March 2027. Not all routers are updated regularly, but the good ones are, and not being able to receive those updates puts routers at risk of being exploited and that risk increases with time. It would seem logical that the FCC would extend the date for patches to be issued if companies have not received conditional approvals, but the retaliatory tendencies of FCC leadership leave one to question if an extension would be refused as punishment or as an attempt to "encourage" manufacturers to make commitments to move production to the United States. In the short-term, this is something we should watch closely and see how things progress as things change quickly and constantly with this administration Even companies that may sincerely want to move production to the United States likely wouldn't be able to make any significant progress before the end of this administration's term. Some companies might opt to wait things out to see what a future administration might do. Technology does move fast and new Wi-Fi standards are on the horizon waiting to be implemented, but for the most part, routers are not an item that most people or even businesses upgrade frequently. Most people upgrade their routers every 3-5 years. As long as people can buy a functioning router when their current model breaks down and as long as ISPs can continue to provide working gateways and routers to their customers, this will be an annoying situation, but it probably won't destroy anyone overnight. Where damage really can be done is endangering customers and businesses if the FCC refuses to allow manufacturers to issue patches next year. It would be counterproductive to compromise the security of current products while not allowing new ones to be sold, but...