Kuo: 'Apple Tags' to Feature Ultra-Wideband Technology, Likely Far More Precise Than Tile's Trackers

[Greenmeenie]

Yep, so long as you (or another iPhone user) are within 10 metres of it

Lol. 10 meters? Oh... not very useful then.

 

[Glideslope]

do they stick to a surface? should be flat IMO. I can see the bevel/curve at the bottom getting caught on things and pried off...

Agreed. Really need a flat spot for good adhesion. I think the renders of a flat device are more accurate.

 

[Khedron]

I already use it this way. I typically say “Hey Siri, I see a little silhouette of a man” and she continues with the lyrics until I find my phone. What fascinates me is my phone responds to me but not my wife’s phone, even when they are essentially beside earth other. I have tested Siri’s ability to differentiate voices under several circumstances and I am impressed.

Why is this surprising? When you set Siri up you train it to your own voice by repeating test phrases.

Nice method though.

 

[bigjnyc]

Can you just put one of these things in your car and be able to track it if it is stolen? Cool

No, because it most likely won't have GPS. in order to track it you would have to be within a certain distance.... Perhaps Apple will make a more expensive one with GPS built in. Or if they make it so it pings off other phones in the area..

 

[DotCom2]

Actually, what I really want is a tracker I can put on my cats that isn’t the size of a pager.

LOL! me too!

 

[Apple Freak]

There obviously is a market for such a product but what I find surprising is that some people seem to lose things a lot or are afraid they will lose something.

I'm not so much afraid of losing things (never lost keys/wallet/phone yet) but things do get stolen which is why I'd be excited about this tracker.

 

[b11051973]

I'm pretty good at not losing things. So, I've never seen a need for a Tile like thingie. Of course, an Apple guy will get on stage, talk about them for 15 minutes and I'll rush out and buy 10 of them.

 

[scottinlexky]

come to think of it, those look like the spiders from Minority Report.

 

[subjonas]

How big are those? The size of M&Ms? If so, it will be really difficult for me not to eat them.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I'm not so much afraid of losing things (never lost keys/wallet/phone yet) but things do get stolen which is why I'd be excited about this tracker.

But it sounds like (based on info currently available) if the thief gets more than 10 metres away from you once he has taken the object, you are out of luck. You may be notified that the object is no longer within 10 metres of your phone, but you will not be able to track it. If they put GPS in them, then you may have what you are excited about.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

Actually, what I really want is a tracker I can put on my cats that isn’t the size of a pager.

Don't they always come back anyway?

 

[Gasu E.]

Because it's so like Apple to release a premium product with totally new technology for a price lower than the competitor.

I see these coming in at $39 a piece and they will sell incredibly well.

I think you will be surprised. Apple understands price elasticity. For most Apple products, a typical customer is only going to buy one unit. For this, customers may buy these in volume; and price matters.

 

[timborama]

I'm pretty good at not losing things. So, I've never seen a need for a Tile like thingie. Of course, an Apple guy will get on stage, talk about them for 15 minutes and I'll rush out and buy 10 of them.

I'm pretty good at not losing things. So, I've never seen a need for a Tile like thingie. Of course, an Apple guy will get on stage, talk about them for 15 45 minutes and I'll rush out and buy 10 of them.

 

[paul4339]

I know this is just an artist rendering, but I really hope this isn't what they look like... too roundy.

It'll probably be squarish with rounded corners like all their other designs. I'm sure there will be a bunch of accusations about copying.

 

[Gasu E.]

You know how I know you're old?

Because his login name, "oldwatery", begins with "old"?

Except, you would be wrong. Actual "old" people love this assistive technology.

 

[kdum8]

Frankly this is great news. My experience with Tile has be less than amazing and they charge way too much for their service. As long as this isn’t a subscription service, I think Apple will clean up in device hardware sales and ecosystem lock in that will far eclipse
the frankly expensive and mediocre offering tile have put out.

 

[PastaPrimav]

My bad, my bad.... I guess it’s just as hard for you to imagine a useful product like Tile, only w/ the added benefit of better accuracy as it is (to you) like figuring out how a brand-new tech, that’s not already proven as useful will play out.

Nothing about it is "proven" at all.

The concept is good, the actual product has a ton of drawbacks that are not currently solvable.
- The devices are themselves are too large. Anything I might actually lose that I would need a short range tracker to find is object that is already too small to be paired with a tracker.
- The battery will eventually die, defeating the purpose. No one wants to keep track of the battery on these things, and if it dies when you need to locate it, it didn't fulfill its only purpose. Since the battery is likely not rechargeable or replaceable, people will lose interest and not replace them when they die.

These are not small problems, nor are they easily solved problems. They take a good concept, and make a meh product. So no...useful is not something that has been established or proven at all. There are lots of interesting concepts that are nothing more than a glorified tech demo in the real world (like the entirety of AR to date).

 

[alpi123]

This sounds really cool. I'm just not sure where I could potentially use one of these, except maybe my wallet. But in my opinion needs to be hidden very well so that the thief doesn't throw it away.

Make it work on animals and I'd call it innovation.

 

[SDJim]

Based on the rendering, are we sure this isn't a leak of the new sacrament wafers for the Church of Apple?

 

[guzhogi]

Kind of wish this could be used with an MDM service. If it can, can someone point me the direction of more info? I work in IT for a K-5 school with close to 200 student iPads. Obviously, I occasionally get the student who lost their iPad. The MDM system we use has about a 1 block radius accuracy. So I'm like, "Looks like it could be at school. Check your desk or locker." That, or if not at school, I'll check if it's near where the kid lives. With something like this, I could be like "Oh, it looks like it's in Mrs. XYZ's classroom.

 

[triangletechie]

For about 2 seconds I thought this was a new mesh wifi system from Apple. I think I'd be more excited for that product.

 

[brinary001]

Bye-bye, Tile... Apple already killed one company this year (the one that let you use your iPad as a display for your Mac) so why not another one?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Red balloon? The IT marketing campaign is everywhere.

 

[ovo6]

100$ a pop for sure

 

[jona2125]

I'm amazed at how fast Apple is building their network. This was such a longshot idea two years ago and they really pushed it forward.