Q: Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

I was issued a refund today.  I emailed macappstore_english_us_support@apple.com with my complaint. 

I was very forthright in my email, stating that I purchased the upgrade specifically for the AirPlay feature, and was made aware only after researching my issue that the specifics were stated on the web.  Certainly had I read that first I wouldn't have spent the $20, but I would still have been upset about the lack of support for this feature.

My biggest argument with this issue is that this AirPlay feature was, and continues to be, one of the highlighted features of Mountain Lion - it was presented during the Apple announcement and it is highlighted on the website.  However, they make no mention of the limitations to customers, and it seems ridiculous that such a hyped feature would be limited to such a small percentage of customers. 

I also think that Apple should have created a warning through the App Store to alert customers that they were not getting a full-featured upgrade, in spite of paying full price.  That would certainly have clarified everything and saved all of us this trouble.

It's great that Apple gave me my refund, but I am finally at the point that I will no longer be such an avid Apple product consumer.  I'm going to use my refund and buy AirParrot, and will continue to support 3rd party developers on the Mac platform in order to give all of us more freedom and choices.  Let's just hope Apple doesn't turn into a Microsoft and ruin it's own product!

Jacob, I'm happy that you got your money back. But an AVID consumer would read the specs before buying anything computer related. This thread absolutely amazes me. You're acting as if Apple hid from you the fact that your Mac wouldn't perform this task when in fact it was right there all the time. You just failed to read it....yeah....that's Apple's fault. LOL.......

Mike,

I fully admitted that I didn't see it on the specs page and I admitted that to Apple in my email.  However, I still think that Apple did a bad job making the consumer aware of the upgrade's limitations for such a highly advertised feature.

Also, I didn't ask for a refund, I asked to return the product.  Apparently Apple doesn't have the ability to downgrade my system so I can't really "return" it.  They were nice enough to offer me the refund.

This thread and the issue addressed is just as important as the Antenna-gate scandal or the fragile glass on the iPhone.  In all cases the customers put their trust in this company and were slighted.  All companies, should be forced to be forthright and clear about their products and deliver the information to the customer in a way that is easy and natural for the customer to consume.  That's why I suggested the warning via the App Store. 

I don't disagree with you.  I wish I'd read the fine print ahead of time, but I'm busy and I'm one man who doesn't have all that time (how many times have you "agreed" to licensing documents of iTunes or other apps without actually reading them?).  Apple has thousands of employees and the ability to ensure all of its consumers are well aware of any limitations.  Me?  I'm just the numpty who shells out lots of money for their products.  They don't owe me anything, but it is certainly correct for them to give me the refund.

Here's to having to read the fine print on every Apple product I ever purchase in the future!  I guess I'd better hire a lawyer in case I want to buy a trackpad or a new set of headphones at the Apple Store!

Okay, I already posted my frustrations, but I will let everyone in on something.  For those of you "tech" people that keep telling us the reasons why our Macs are not up to snuff, screw you.  We are not upset about that portion of this problem.  We also don't want to hear that there was in fact notification's that our Macs are too old either. Becuase there were no notifications.  It was really hard to find out about the limitations in the first place.  Apples website is nice to look at, but very hard to navigate with the constant redirections.  Good luck getting contact information that is useful.  That being said, many other thrid party programs work with older Macs; not just AirParrot. We were hoping for the streamlined featuers that Apple can deliver.  It seems to me that later updates could have been issued saying that with some older macs, "additaional software may be needed."  Apple just wanted to make an all for one with thier new OS.  They should have put forth a little more effort for everyone, not just the brand new users, or computers.  We were all under the impression that we install ML and we would have great new features.  Many of those features are not available to us.  What about those people that bought a Mac in late 2011 only to find out it was not a 2011 model but older, and now they paid the same moeny as everyone else for thier newer models but still don't have the satisfaction of airPlay?  The pricipal is the main motive for this huge thread.  We should have been better informed of what may or may not work.  A quick pop up, or a discalmer that was easy to read right up front would have done well.  Also, I know some of us, including myself, personally asked a Mac expert in person if our computers would be able to airPlay.  The results were yes!  So many of us feel betrayed.  Also, I hav edone some research for those of you like me, who pulled thier cable or thought the airPlay would be a good alternative, try Roku box, or Boxee box.  They both seem to have just everything I wanted from the airPlay.  I plan one getting one, if not both of them.  Good luck to the rest of you!

Hi Mike,

Apple advertises that it sells products that "just work". If there was any limitations to the software, I would expect to see some mention of it, or link to the specifications on the product page. As you can see from the AirPlay portion of Mountain Lion product page below, there is no mention of any limitations. Infact, it states that "it's a big deal for [my] Mac" when it is only a big deal for Macs built after 2011... This is the confusion.

Hello,

I'm disappointed too but I just can't think that people just bought it without reading the specs. They have being in the website since day one.

http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

Is like buying a car without knowing what is under the hood. I'm not defending Apple here, I still think that someting can be done on their part for this feature to work. I just don't agree with all the complaining when this was well documented.

You're absolutely correct that I don't read every (any) EULA, but before I lay down my cash for anything I make sure that it's going to do what I need it to do.

Prepare4robots, I'm sure you know that the badge you posted isn't the only thing on the page. If you would be bothered to click either the 200+ new features page or the tech specs page you would have found the info so many of you neglected. It's amazing that many of you feel duped by Apple when you didn't bother to do your homework. Would you purchase a car based solely on the information in a glitzy ad? Of course not. Would you have purchased this upgrade without reading the specs if it cost $129 like upgrades used to? Probably not again. Amazing how you were duped by Apple. Absolutely amazing. As I said before this reminds me of the crying that went/goes on when people fail to read that beyond Snow Leopard the Mac OS no longer supports PPC applications.again Apple's fault I guess.

guayacan4

Re: Mountain Lion AirPlay Mirroring (iMac to AppleTV) Not Working

Jul 28, 2012 2:46 PM (in response to jcetheredge)

Hello,

I'm disappointed too but I just can't think that people just bought it without reading the specs. They have being in the website since day one.

http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

Is like buying a car without knowing what is under the hood. I'm not defending Apple here, I still think that someting can be done on their part for this feature to work. I just don't agree with all the complaining when this was well documented.

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+1

guayacan4,

As mentioned in many previous posts, issue is that Apple did not CONSISTENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY advertise this.

Please check out http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/

6 described functions there that have limited availability either due to hardware limitations or outside dependencies (eg. devices w/iOS 6) are CLEARLY FOOTNOTED with those limitations. Yet while AirPlay Mirroring IS described on that page, NOTHING is footnoted to describe AirPlay Mirroring limitations.

One might REASONABLY assume from reading THAT page, that there were no such AirPlay Mirroring limitations.

We pay a PREMIUM for Apple products. There profit margin is substantially higher than their competitors, because we are willing to pay for better product, longer life, better service, and truth in advertising. They disappointed.

To all th morons telling people that the limitations are there for the whole world to see....

I saw them, I did not purchase. That does not stop me from being angry because my mac is 6 months to old to run AirPlay.

So what is your point. Because I don't think you have one.

This is bad marketing from apple, pure and simple. They went down the pan when Steve jobbs left 1st time round. And it's happening again.

To bad, I was looking forward to apple tv

Seriously, who reads specs? Can't a company be clear enough about how their product works? I've been an apple user for almost 10 years and never have I run into a problem where upgrading resulted in only a few new features. They truly could have made it more clear that you must have a NEW mac in order to use the airplay feature upgrade.

Money, Money, Money.....

This is crap Apple.  Totally unacceptable crap.  You should have been much clearer about which Macs support this feature.  This was the primary reason I upgraded and I can't even use it.  Worse, I'm left feeling the decision not to support my Late 2008 MacBook Pro was entirely arbitrary technically because you've not explained yourself here at all.  Keep it up and it'll be 1995 again.

I could not agree more.  Totally deceptive and misleading.

I don't know how many people were in my situation when Apple TV2 came out.

I brought Apple TV2 1 or 2 days after it was released, but the software didn't work so I googled it, and also went to the Apple store for help.  Well, it turns out there was a bug in the software, and the mirroring feature JUST PLAIN DOES NOT WORK in the original release.  I was only able to confirm this by calling Apple Support.  No one in the Apple Store knows about this problem.

Apple removed the software from it's software update servers, and only a few days came back with a new, fixed version.  But in those few days, they were still selling, and advertising the Apple TV 2 with the airplay/mirroring feature, AND their Apple Store stuff has no idea that it was not working.

I can understand if Apple does not remove the mirroring feature from it's advertisements and website, because that would be terribly embarassing and destroyied Apple's credibility.  But the minimum would be to advise their stuff about this, that's at least providing an answer to your paying customers and being accountable. 

Bottom line, when it comes to the mirroring stuff, I think buyer beware is the way to go.