U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Senate Democrat on antitrust issues, said Apple’s AirTag tracker device unveiling was “timely” as it was the kind of conduct that her panel planned to discuss at an antitrust hearing on Wednesday at which Apple’s Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer will testify as well as Kirsten Daru, general counsel for Tile.
Tile CEO CJ Prober’s statement, in part, following Apple’s AirTag unveiling:
We welcome competition, as long as it is fair competition. Unfortunately, given Apple’s well-documented history of using its platform advantage to unfairly limit competition for its products, we’re skeptical. And given our prior history with Apple, we think it is 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 discuss these issues further in front of Congress tomorrow.
Apple announced on Tuesday that it would begin selling AirTags, which can be attached to items like car keys to help users find them when they are lost. The move puts Apple in direct competition with Tile, which has sold a similar tracking device for more than a decade.
“It’s timely given that this is the type of conduct that we’ll be talking about at the hearing,” Klobuchar said.
Apple said its AirTags were an outgrowth of its “FindMy” app, which is used for locating lost Apple devices and to share user locations and was introduced in 2010, before Tile’s founding. Apple last month opened its operating system up to third-party item trackers and said that Chipolo, a startup that competes with both Tile and Apple’s new AirTags, is using the system.
MacDailyNews Take: Competition is not illegal, so it’s actually not “timely” at all for an antitrust hearing.
Instead of actually attempting to compete, Tile wants U.S. Congress to do their work for them.
Tile could have done the work to produce a wider variety of trackers, with the latest UWB technology, and teamed with makers of bicycles, handbags, luggage, keychains, etc. around the world, but they did not. Therefore, they deserve exactly what’s coming to them: Scraping the bottom of the barrel for cheapskate Android settlers for as long as Tile manages to last.
Even with an 8 year head start, Tile wasn’t smart enough to make wide-ranging deals to get their trackers everywhere and sell 300 million units per year at $5 profit each. Instead, they wanted to sell 15 million/yr. at a profit of $25 each. So, because somebody built a better mousetrap, now the dummies at Tile run whining to idiot politicians – maybe they can all put their empty heads together and do some basic math, for a change. Way too late, but whatever.
Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. — Steve Jobs
So we can’t have things that actually work… Also didn’t Apple open up the Find My system to Tile and others giving them many more devices that can pinpoint items? Sounds fair. Their were not enough people running the Tile app for the devices to be reliable – I can’t believe that people wasted their money on those but now they might be worth using.
We can’t have things that actually work because Apple’s balkanized pile of networks that they rent to you as one “iCloud” has never worked seamlessly since day one. MOREOVER, iCloud is hosted on Amazon, Google, Azure, and Akamai servers. Will poor or nonexistent end user controls, notifications, or guarantees. Read the fine print sometime.
Amy, Apple is bringing new solutions to consumers. Can’t have that….
Typical Democrat Find something that works and destroy it. Remember ma bell? Apple opened this ecosystem up. If a small danish electric bike manufacturer can use this system what is to stop tile, supposedly the largest manufacturer of these trackers in the world. Maybe next we can go after Amazon for selling tiles to us cheaply and conveniently. Oh wait. That hearing follows the tech antitrust one…..
AHH.. words spoken from my Heart! 👍🏼👊🏼👍🏼
F’ing Demonrats want to destroy everything good about this country
ATTN LIBTURDS: Downvoting the above fact does not make it any less true.
ATTN Beck: Believing your own opinions does not make them facts.
I went to buy Honda Accord, and wanted a HEMI-V8 in it, along with Indy 500 race car seats, and the dealer laughed at me and said “Sorry pal, this is a closed system vehicle. You can choose other vehicles, it’s not a monopoly, but Honda only gives you the options they provide.”
I told the dealer that is ridiculous! Crazy! How dare they! Monopoly! Anti-Trust!
Dealer told me I sounded as dumb as anyone in Congress going after Apple for being some kind of monopoly when they only have anywhere from 15% – 50% of any given market in the world and if you didn’t like what Apple sells, buy something else.
Gee, what a concept.
So Apple can integrate a technology with their other technologies. What a concept. Not! Can you believe Samsung came out with tags made for to work with their own phones yesterday also?! That’s crazy!!!
Love how our Congressmen/women love going after American companies the first chance they get with near zero comprehension of what Anti-Trust or a Monopoly is and what constitutes either.
I might just go by a 4-pack out of spite for Klobuchar. Thank you Jerry Seinfeld for giving me the “out of spite” purchasing idea. ; )
Somehow the phrase “go find yourself” has a new meaning. I guess Tile is now off the hook from any anti-trust issues thanks to Apple.
Democrat Senator
As well as Mike Lee, the Republican Senator on the US Senate Judiciary Committee. Did you feel it was important to leave out the Red Team? Why?
For the backstory, Tile filed a complaint last year that Apple hired away one of its engineers and essentially reverse engineered their tracking technology to make the FindMy system. That in itself is not illegal. However, Tile contends that Apple is using monopoly power to undermine Tile’s ability to operate as an equal alternative to the Apple platform.
The Tile contention deserves to be heard. There is a process for that and I for one am happy it is being reviewed by the people’s representatives in the light of day.
Some people of a partisan bent seem inclined to resolve these matters differently. How, …. they never actually tell us. All you get it “Blue is bad!” from their incessant whines.
So you are saying we should be stuck with Tile which barely works and not have access to a product that could actually work? Get back on your horse and buggy. Apple opened up their system to Tile which should help them actually sell more items and they should take the opportunity to make their product a better offering than Apple’s which is how competition works. I would agree if Apple did not open up the system to Tile then they would be in the wrong.
@ Tommy: how did you spin a clearly pro-competition, open market advocate position into your twisted extreme proposal, which cynically proposes that the US Government would establish a monopoly for Tile????
Competition is good. Monopoly behavior, EVEN IF IT IS DONE BY A CORPORATION YOU LIKE, is bad.
So why are you so against Tile presenting their case? They claim Apple did not open up a fair playing field. They have requested a chance to make their case. Shouldn’t all people and companies be allowed to seek justice when they feel they have been wronged? If Tile doesn’t win their case, so be it. They don’t deserve your prejudice for exercising their rights.
Mike Lee is a RINO
Klobuchar Is simply an idiot.