Yeah I know, I was saying I am not sure Apple would be able to disrupt a company that has almost perfected their product at this point.
Unless Google does similarly there will always be a place for Tile. However, Apple doesn’t need to do better to disrupt the product on iOS. First, Tile isn’t ubiquitous. Second, it doesn’t have high resolution, close proximity alerts, like say if you walk two feet away from your wallet in a public place ... being the difference between leaving your wallet in a cab / dropping it on the floor without noticing, or not. As it exists now, there are companies that made closer proximity trackers to fill the gap where Tile does not go (like Informu’s Mu Tag). That requires having a second tracking device, and second app. Third, the alerts for Tile that popup, about it needing the app to be open to work is a poor user experience, it being integrated into iOS is enough of a reason for many to switch. That and Apple’s stance on privacy. It merely being an Apple product would cause it achieve greater penetration on iOS.
I’m sure many will stick with Tile, and if Apple prices it competitively then many will at least stick with Tile until their batteries die. Personally, even at $40 I would still get it (but not as many other Tile users would do the same I imagine). Not having to deal with two trackers, and apps, is reason enough for me. It being baked into iOS means greater coverage than Tile, when users simply upgrade iOS. There will probably be an opt-out mechanism after upgrading (or opt-in), but even if half the users opt-out, that’s way more coverage than Tile has. It doesn’t require that people actually have trackers, only that people care to use find my iPhone / find my friends. That’s two interest stickers for people outside of the tracker buying group, that gives Apple the opportunity to track items using the mesh network.
On iOS, it would overtake Tile as fast as the new iOS is adopted.
