Tile CEO 'welcomes' AirTag competition from Apple's 'runaway monopoly train'
CEO CJ Prober says that Apple has put Tile at a disadvantage both through direct AirTags competition, and changes to iOS that have made it appear that Tile is broken.
Tile
Following the release of Apple's AirTag tracking device, the CEO of its chief rival, Tile, has been telling Bloomberg TV how his company and its users have been put at a disadvantage.
"We welcome competition from Apple," said CJ Prober, "but we think it needs to be fair."
Prober said that when Apple launched its updated Find My app in 2019, it also "made a number of changes [that made it] very difficult for our customers to enable Tile."
He claimed that once users had installed and enabled Tile, there were also new changes to Apple's iOS notification system "that basically made it seem like Tile was broken."
"If you look at the history between Tile and Apple," says Prober, "we had a very symbiotic relationship. They sold Tile in their stores, we were highlighted in 2019 at their Worldwide Developers Conference."
"Basically [now] the main points of differentiation of AirTags vis a vis Tile, are [unique] to platform capabilities that we don't have access to," he said. "Seamless activation [is an example], and another is Ultra Wideband."
Prober says that Tile has been pressing to get developer access to Apple's U1 Ultra Wideband processor, "and have been denied."
"Apple does not need to take advantage of its monopoly position, the App Store and the iPhone, [or] enable advantages that only they can partake in," continued Prober. "They can make those [platform] advantages available to all companies so we can compete on a level playing field."
"So we have a lot going for us from a product perspective," he continued, "but we don't feel we should be competing in the way we are Apple. This is much broader than Tile, this is about long term consumer choice."
Tile is part of the Coalition for App Fairness, along with Spotify and many others, and has provided testimony to the current Apple versus Epic Games trial regarding the App Store.
"I would encourage listeners to go to the App Store Senate hearing," said Prober, "[and] read our testimony, read the testimony from Spotify. We should be competing fairly, with no excessive taxes on developers."
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Tile
Following the release of Apple's AirTag tracking device, the CEO of its chief rival, Tile, has been telling Bloomberg TV how his company and its users have been put at a disadvantage.
"We welcome competition from Apple," said CJ Prober, "but we think it needs to be fair."
Prober said that when Apple launched its updated Find My app in 2019, it also "made a number of changes [that made it] very difficult for our customers to enable Tile."
He claimed that once users had installed and enabled Tile, there were also new changes to Apple's iOS notification system "that basically made it seem like Tile was broken."
"If you look at the history between Tile and Apple," says Prober, "we had a very symbiotic relationship. They sold Tile in their stores, we were highlighted in 2019 at their Worldwide Developers Conference."
"Basically [now] the main points of differentiation of AirTags vis a vis Tile, are [unique] to platform capabilities that we don't have access to," he said. "Seamless activation [is an example], and another is Ultra Wideband."
Prober says that Tile has been pressing to get developer access to Apple's U1 Ultra Wideband processor, "and have been denied."
"Apple does not need to take advantage of its monopoly position, the App Store and the iPhone, [or] enable advantages that only they can partake in," continued Prober. "They can make those [platform] advantages available to all companies so we can compete on a level playing field."
The future of Tile
Nonetheless, Prober claims that Tile is confident of its future. "The good news is that Tile is very well positioned, we've got a super differentiated product cross platform," he said. "We have many more factors, you don't need an accessory to attach it to your things, we're louder, we've got better range.""So we have a lot going for us from a product perspective," he continued, "but we don't feel we should be competing in the way we are Apple. This is much broader than Tile, this is about long term consumer choice."
Tile is part of the Coalition for App Fairness, along with Spotify and many others, and has provided testimony to the current Apple versus Epic Games trial regarding the App Store.
"I would encourage listeners to go to the App Store Senate hearing," said Prober, "[and] read our testimony, read the testimony from Spotify. We should be competing fairly, with no excessive taxes on developers."
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zpK-GBOz9A
I don’t have any Tile products (or AirTags) but I would like to see someone do this same thing with a Tile and see what the results are.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/04/07/apple-announces-find-my-network-for-third-party-accessories
Here’s the quote I’m referring to from that linked article: “ Alongside the announcement of the program, Apple says it will be launching what it calls a draft specification for chipset manufacturers. Due out "later this spring," the specification will allow third-party firms to utilize the more precise location technology, Ultra-Wideband technology in U1-equipped Apple devices.”
If he is truly unaware he should be looking for new engineers.
Chipolo also makes a competing product to Tile and AirTags. Where is all of the complaining about unfairness coming from Chipolo? I haven’t seen any. In fact, what I do see is Chipolo is making a product that explicitly works with Find My. Maybe this Tile guy should take a few pages from the Chipolo playbook instead of running to the government for help.
First post, a negative one, did I take a wrong turn and end up back at MacRumors?
I agree that there should be a “yeah it’s ok FOREVER” setting. But I really doubt it was done to kill Tile. Apple has a massive advantage in being able to build the finding network into the OS itself, so there is no need to “kill” anyone with stunts like that.