Shortly after the official announcement of Apple's AirTag, Tile CEO CJ Prober expressed his concerns about competition with Apple in the location space and said that Tile would ask Congress to investigate Apple's business practices specifically regarding "Find My" and item trackers.
CJ Prober gave an interview to Bloomberg this week, further addressing Tile's complaints about Apple and explaining why he feels Tile is being disadvantaged on Apple's platform. Prober said that while Tile "welcomes competition," he feels Apple isn't being fair.
Prober on Apple: “We had a very symbiotic relationship”
Tile welcomes competition. We've been competing with small businesses all the way up to Fortune 50 companies for eight years, so we welcome competition from Apple - but we think it has to be fair.
Prober claims that when Apple “introduced” Find My in 2019, there were changes in iOS that made it harder for Tile to work.
If you look at the history between Tile and Apple, we had a very symbiotic relationship. They sold Tile in their stores, we were highlighted at WWDC 2019, and then they launched "Find My" in 2019. Right around the time the new "Find My" app came out, which is effectively a competitor to Tile, they made a number of changes to their operating system that made it very difficult for our customers to activate Tile. Among other things, they started displaying notifications that suggested Tile was broken.
Tile vs. AirTag: Platform capabilities are crucial
Prober cites changes Apple made to location services permissions. For privacy reasons, Apple has made it harder for apps to gain permanent access to a user's location. Initially, apps in iOS 13 weren't allowed to offer an "Always Allow" option when requesting location access. The feature had to be enabled in the Settings app. Apple also began sending regular reminders to customers to let them know their location was being used. Tile wasn't happy about these privacy changes. These adjustments pitted Tile against Apple, with Tile asking Congress in 2019 to "level the playing field." Prober explained that Apple has now launched a Tile competitor that has access to platform features Tile doesn't, citing seamless activation and ultra-wideband technology.
Would Tile give up its own infrastructure?
The main differentiators of AirTags versus Tile are enabled by platform capabilities that we don't have access to.
Apple did launch the "Find My" network to give third-party accessories some of the same access capabilities as AirTags. These products will be able to access the U1 chip in the iPhone 11 and 12 models, similar to AirTags. However, Tile won't be able to use the "Find My" network unless the company abandons its own app and infrastructure. Will it do that? Probably not. Prober also stated that Tile has "tried to access" the U1 chip in the iPhone since its introduction, but has been denied access. It's too early to say whether Tile's sales will be impacted by AirTag. However, Prober emphasized that Tile is "well positioned" with a "super-differentiated product" that's cross-platform and available in many form factors. He believes Tile has several advantages over AirTags.
Prober calls for “legislation that allows innovation and competition”
We have a lot of form factors. You don't need an accessory to attach it to your stuff. We're louder, we have better range. So we have a lot going for us. We feel good about our competitive position but we don't feel like we should be competing with Apple. It's about much more than just trackers - it's about long-term consumer choice, thriving innovation and lower prices. That's why we're so vocal about it.
According to Prober, Apple could take advantage of the benefits it has on its platform and make them available to everyone to create a level playing field, calling for legislation that allows for innovation and competition.
We should have fair competition and not excessive taxes for developers.
The further development is sure to remain exciting. If you want to see the full interview, you can find the Bloomberg article here. (Photo by askarim / Bigstockphoto)
