Just hours after Apple unveiled its long-awaited AirTag, Tile CEO CJ Prober released a statement expressing concern about competition in the article tracking arena.
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As transmitted by TechCrunchProber said that while Tile hails “fair competition”, the company is “skeptical” about Apple’s goals, given “the history of using the platform’s advantage to limit unfair competition”.
Tile intends to ask Congress to take a look at Apple’s specific Find Me business practices and competition with other article tracking options. The full statement is below:
Our mission is to solve the problem of the daily pain of finding lost and lost things and we are praised to see Apple, one of the most valuable companies in the world, which enters and validates the pioneering Tile category.
The reason many people turn to Tile to locate lost or misplaced items is because of the differentiated value we offer our consumers. In addition to providing a set of top features in the industry through our app, which works with iOS and Android devices, our service is seamlessly integrated with all major voice assistants, including Alexa and Google. And with form factors for each use case and many different styles at affordable prices, there is a tile for everyone.
Tile has also successfully partnered with top brands such as HP, Intel, Skullcandy and Fitbit to enable our technology to be found in mass market consumer categories such as laptops, headphones and portable devices. With over 30 partners, we look forward to extending Tile’s benefits to millions of customers and providing you with an experience that helps you keep track of all your important assets.
We welcome competition as long as it is fair competition. Unfortunately, given Apple’s well-documented history of using its platform’s advantage to unfairly limit competition for its products, we’re skeptical. And given our previous history with Apple, we think it’s entirely appropriate for Congress to take a closer look at Apple’s business practices specific to its entry into this category. We welcome the opportunity to further discuss these issues before Congress tomorrow.
To avoid complaints like the one Tile will present at the conference, Apple waited to unveil AirTag until it launched the indFind My Network accessory program, which is designed to allow third-party viewers to integrate into the right Find My app. along with AirTags.
Third-party accessory manufacturers can build indFind My tracking on their Bluetooth devices with U1 chip support in the near future. If desired, Tile could create item tracking tags designed to integrate with the indFind My app, but Tile already has its own accessory find network.
Find My accessories can only work with the Find My app, and Tile is unlikely to want to give up its customer base to create a Find My label that only works with Apple devices. Tile believes that only by launching an article tracking element will Apple be able to dominate the market due to its primary advantage.
Apple AirTags from Apple will be available for order on April 23, with the launch scheduled for April 30.