Tile is the pioneer of lost object tracking beacons. With a well-known brand in the space, many have wondered how they see the arrival of the new AirTag in Tile. The answer is that she is “welcome” although she was quick to point out that she was unfair.
Welcome to AirTag with a big “but”
We welcome the competition from Apple, but believe it should be fair.
With these words refers Tile CEO CJ Prober, interviewed by Bloomberg on AirTag (via AppleInsider). The relationship between the two companies has not always been like this, as the executive He remembered that in another not so distant time they got along. Tile’s products were on sale in the Apple Store and even its app was featured at WWDC 2019.
Prober claims their products now don’t have access to the same Apple platform features as their AirTags. Indicates the initial configuration and the use of ultra-wideband as the main stumbling block. He also recalled how background privacy features initially hampered his app. Something Apple ended up fixing. As a result, Tile also took over the company as part of the coalition against the App Store.
Apple doesn’t need to take advantage of its monopoly position, the App Store and the iPhone, to have an advantage that only they can enjoy. They can make these platform benefits available to everyone so that we can compete on an equal footing.
Apple opened its Find Third Party network before AirTag launched. Tile could be integrated with the search application Apple, although then it would lose much of its appeal.