Chipolo Takes Dig at AirTags When Advertising ONE Spot Item Tracker: 'No Accessory Needed'

[citysnaps]

Chipolo 1
Apple 0

Shameful you have to buy a dongle loop for AirTag to attach to something while preaching being green.

What's really shameful is Chipolo not employing UWB, and being stuck with BT. A joke in 2021.

But yeah, for some, putting a hole in the tag makes up for it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

not being able to clip anything through an Air Tag and having to buy an accessory to do it is classic .
Where there's another $ to be made, they'll figure out a way to make it

They’ve had a pretty good track record of making things folks will buy for money, thus making them money as a result. The key, I think, is a sharp focus on those people with money that want to buy things, preferably the things they make, and not so much on the people that just like to have a good complain every now and then. History has shown that trying to satisfy folks that aren’t going to buy your product anyway isn’t a winning strategy.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apple sure can design a hole in AirTag, but it cannot force the CR2032 batteries to all have a hole at the same location. Among all of these people commenting here, how surprising none understand such a simple fact!

I took a look at the numbers
Diameter:
AirTags: 31.9 mm
CR2032: 20 mm
Difference: 11.9 mm

Distance from battery to edge: Approx. 5 mm maybe? (5.95, but there’s also the structure the battery requires plus the circuitry, maybe 4 mm?)

Anyway, doesn’t sound like a significant hold point to me. Oh, And you have to take into account that height wise, they’re tapered, meaning even less material towards the edge.

 

[DarwinOSX]

That is a fair critique of airtags. Apple is so confident that they are making money off of selling you a hole.

It is not a far critique and it is pretty stupid of them to bite the hands that feed them with find my device. They wouldn't have a product if Apple didn't make this available. You don't have to buy an accessory at all or one from Apple. Any company that try to sell product this way has a pretty stupid marketing dept.

 

[DarwinOSX]

That would be great.

Automation possibilities like:

• Bring AirTag into the room that has HomePod mini (ultra wideband). Between 15 minutes after sunset and bedtime, turn on the room light.
• At night, AirTag in your pocket at certain distance and direction from the HomePod mini activates the backyard light.
• Accidentally locked the door with AirTag inside the house. Turn on the entrance light as a reminder.

Unfortunately, AirTag is probably a passive device. It's probably transmitting only periodically, or when Find My app is launched (I read that the initial connection may take as much as 30 seconds).

You are saying probably to things that are known and you are wrong. Google is your friend.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Does being on the Find My network allow these third-party products to ping iPhones the same way the AirTags do?

Mostly but not exactly because Apple won't allow 3rd parties access to the UltraWideband chip nor should they to protect our privacy.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Agree that they (this other company) aren’t wrong, but I don’t believe that it’s an oversight on Apple’s part. Accessories for the AirTags creates one more stream of revenue for them. Brands like Belkin are selling holders for $15 or so. Just a matter of time before we see even cheaper options available on Amazon. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some for as low as $3-$5.

Frankly, if this is all that Chipolo can come up with to differentiate their upcoming product from AirTags, then I suspect their product is at risk of being DOA.

Agree. This make Chipolo look weak. Some idiot in their marketing thought this one up.

 

[LDN]

Never heard of them before, they try making fun of Apple and then all the news outlets talk about it.
This is called free marketing.

 

[laszlo182]

If you are asking about Tile, yes it can. But you have to pay a subscription fee for that service, and only those who have the Tile app installed can help you track your lost item. But it can also leverage the Android phones if they have the Tile app installed, whereas the Air Tag can provide location tracking via nearby iPhones only.

I may buy an airtag as another way to find my dog if it runs away. There are already accessories being made to attach the airtag to a dog collar.

yeah sorry i meant through find my community…if people have to install the tile app that user base is close to 0 where i live

 

[laszlo182]

Agree that they (this other company) aren’t wrong, but I don’t believe that it’s an oversight on Apple’s part. Accessories for the AirTags creates one more stream of revenue for them. Brands like Belkin are selling holders for $15 or so. Just a matter of time before we see even cheaper options available on Amazon. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some for as low as $3-$5.

Frankly, if this is all that Chipolo can come up with to differentiate their upcoming product from AirTags, then I suspect their product is at risk of being DOA.

i’m sure aliexpress will have options for less than 1€