What you need to know
- Apple announced its new AirTag tracker today.
- In response, Tile has released a statement that wonders if Apple will be anti-competitive with it.
Tile is not happy with the announcement of Apple's AirTag.
As reported by TechCrunch, Tile has responded to Apple's announcement of its new AirTag tracking product with a statement that lambasts the company for what it claims to be anti-competitive behavior.
The statement, which was released ahead of the company's hearing with Congress on antitrust tomorrow, says that the company is "skeptical" about AirTag and is worried that Apple will favor the product in ways that is damaging to similar products like Tile.
Apple has been under close scrutiny for antitrust lately and Tile has been one of the biggest voices once AirTag was rumored. Apple has opened up its Find My network and app to third-party products, but it is unclear at this time if Tile plans to integrate its product with that service.
Below is the full statement from Tile CEO CJ Prober:
Our mission is to solve the everyday 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 category Tile pioneered.The reason so many people turn to Tile to locate their lost or misplaced items is because of the differentiated value we offer our consumers. In addition to providing an industry leading set of features via 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 case and many different styles at affordable prices, there is a Tile for everyone.Tile has also successfully partnered with top brands like HP, Intel, Skullcandy and fitbit to enable our finding technology in mass market consumer categories like laptops, earbuds and wearables. With over 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 belongings.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.
