Just hours after Apple unveiled its highly anticipated AirTag, Tile CEO CJ Prober released a statement expressing concern over competition in item tracking.
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As passed on by TechCrunch, Prober said that while Tile welcomes “fair competition,” the company is “skeptical” about Apple’s goals, given its “history of using platform advantage to unfairly restrict competition.”
Tile plans to ask Congress to take a look at Apple’s business practices specific to Find My and its competition with other item tracking options. The full statement is below:
Our mission is to solve the mundane pain point of finding lost and misplaced things and we are flattered to see Apple, one of the most valuable companies in the world, enter and validate the pioneering Tile category.
The reason so many people turn to Tile to locate their lost or misplaced items is because of the differentiated value we provide to our consumers. In addition to providing an industry-leading set of features through our app that 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 every use and many different styles at affordable prices, there’s a tile for everyone.
Tile has also successfully partnered with top brands such as HP, Intel, Skullcandy and Fitbit to enable our search technology in mass market consumer categories such as laptops, earbuds and wearables. With more than 30 partners, we look forward to extending the benefits of Tile to millions of customers and enabling an experience that helps you keep track of all your important assets.
We welcome competition as long as it is fair competition. Given Apple’s well-documented history of using its platform advantage to unfairly restrict competition for its products, we’re unfortunately skeptical. And given our history with Apple, we think it is perfectly appropriate for Congress to take a closer look at Apple’s business practices specific to entering this category. We welcome the opportunity to further discuss these issues before Congress tomorrow.
To avoid complaints like Tile’s to Congress, Apple waited to unveil the AirTag until it launched the “Find My” Network accessory program, which is designed to integrate third-party item trackers into the “Find My” app. next to AirTags.
Third-party accessory manufacturers can build “Find My” tracking into their Bluetooth devices, with support for U1 chips in the near future. If desired, Tile can create item tracking tags designed to integrate with the “Find My” app, but Tile already has its own established accessory access network.
“Find My” accessories only work with the “Find My” app and it is unlikely that Tile will want to give up his customer base to create a “Find My” tag that only works with Apple devices. Tile believes that by releasing an item tracker, Apple can dominate the market for its first-party advantage.
Apple’s AirTags will be available to order on April 23, with a launch on April 30.