Yesterday, Apple announced the AirPort Express, a wireless network access point priced at $129 that includes innovative features like an audio cable port to provide a simple way to connect a home stereo to your wireless network (using the new iTunes feature called AirTunes). It also has a USB port to allow it to serve as an inexpensive print server.

The flexibility of the AirPort Express is the striking feature. This access point looks almost exactly like my wife's iPod's AC adapter. It's clearly designed to be tossed into the briefcase by travelers, or to be plugged into the wall behind the home theater and forgotten about. It looks like a great design for either purpose.

I think Apple has really thrown a monkey wrench into the home media server market. A lot of companies were building more complicated devices to play MP3s and serve digital photos that were meant to fit into the home theater device stack and cost more than $129. The AirPort Express doesn't do all of the things that the other devices set out to do, but it trumps them all with simplicity.

Brian D. Foy wrote thoughtfully about the AirPort Express today, when he said:

I am right at the center of the market for this thing. I travel a lot and already lug around an Airport Base Station that I expect to get crushed and destroyed in some way.

My plans for re-configuring my home network have just gone down the drain. We wanted to share our printer through the airport, and I was going to pull some cables to put the airport nearer the center of our apartment, then pull some cables to network our printer with the Airport's extra ethernet port. Now, I am just going to get an Airport Express and use USB printer sharing.

[ Image courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. ]