The people advocating for installing apps from internet 3rd parties today will be condemning Apple for inadequate security once those apps start causing security breaches.
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U.S. Senator Calls AirTags Release 'Timely' as App Store Antitrust Hearing Kicks Off
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Washington Post has more details on Tile's complaints.
Summary of complaints, most serious to "give me a break, Tile":
Tile was years ahead in building their products and network. I gave up using Tile (owned 6) because:
Summary of complaints, most serious to "give me a break, Tile":
- Find My Network requires Tile users to opt out of Tile's own network, which will negatively affect users relying on Android and Alexa devices.
- Setting up AirTags does not require installing and using another app.
- Apple does not license U1 chip to third party. It is worth noting that UWB is a standards-based and Tile only recently started developing a new product using off-the-shelf UWB solution after getting denied from Apple to use U1 in 2019.
- Apple takes 15-30% from Tile's Premium subscription, if it is done through the app.
Tile was years ahead in building their products and network. I gave up using Tile (owned 6) because:
- I was tired of getting new Tile after the battery dies (Tile eventually released Tile with user replaceable battery).
- I dislike the design of Tile products, especially Tile Pro.
- It frequently doesn't work, or takes too long to respond.
No. That's not a thing. Make your product better and stop whining or find another job - like ALL of us have to do every day. Another author puts out a better book , do I write my congressman and complain how unfair it is that that other author is better? This isn't about empathy, this is about well funded companies with millions and sometimes billions fighting it out. I have no empathy for either. I have common sense to bring to the table. There is no issue here. But Tile and these companies want the market to be shifted in THEIR direction for no greater reason than - money. Empathy ends here.
If Tile had opened up THEIR network to third parties, it might have had the app (or apps using it) installed on enough devices to still be relevant and useful.
Sure, they could join the Find My program, but then they would have to kill off their Tile app on Apple’s App Store in order to do so.
Kill off an app that would harm their deployed Tile network that consists of third party Tile-enabled devices like HP laptops, Fitbits, Sennheiser headsets, Planteonics devices, etc., not to mention theiir own Tile devices, that also consists of Android users too.
Suddenly, just to use Apple’s Find My “solution” they have to harm their own product/system in order to do so. This is part of the spirit of what being anticompetitive is all about.
Yeah, Apple are ahead of you this time, they made sure to open up to allow others the ability to compete if they choose.
Even if they have, so what? Does anyone really believe Apple’s Lobbying power can be equaled over what we have seen over the past year?
This is a Horse and Pony show for her run for President in 2028, or to Primary Kamala if Joe doesn’t make it to 2024.
Fight the Future will be sent “Back to The Future” after this fiasco.
Tim has a long memory.
The "line" I was referring to concerns what tying arrangements are permissible. Remember, this is a hearing on anticompetitive behavior generally; it's not about Apple or Tile. The potential issue here -- and certainly the main thing Tile intends to allege -- is that there is no competitive justification for Apple's requirement that a third-party tracking device exclusively use FindMy in order to use it at all. One can consider that point without allowing Tile to "dominate the space with their subpar product."
If Apple's conduct were illegal, it would run afoul of several anticompetitive statutes, but it isn't. Apple does not hold a monopoly in this market. If anything, Tile is the market leader. If Apple wants to demand developers choose Tile's network or theirs, they're free to do so.
Nobody has a monopoly here. Apple does not have a monopoly in mobile operating systems. We should just let the companies compete and see who consumers support with their money.
As someone who works with these statutes, I tend to agree that Apple did what it needed to here (and acknowledged as much in my original comment). But it's quite a leap to go from that to some of the suggestions in this thread that Congress shouldn't even consider competition issues and how companies as large as Apple seek to tie their various products together.
Because we have laws to "protect" us. It's the interpretation of these laws that is the prob!
I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. The US Government has a history of destroying great companies and really want to see the US last in almost every category. This is just another step in that direction.
I like Amy K, but this is going too far. Ma Bell was a monopoly that needed broken up. Apple has a great ecosystem and needs to stay that way, free from 3rd party interference or poor quality.
So Spotify who has market share and exists basically because someone else created devices and Tile who holds markets share and basically exist because of the same thing are complaining about competition. What a disgrace. I really hope they start losing their market dominance after this. Just like Epic. Happy to use someone else to make money until they want to make more of it.
I wouldn't count on it. Apple obviously knows the score, they spend billions in attorney's fees. As I said the US Government has a history of screwing with good corporations and wants to make sure the US is dead last in every category.
If you have a terrible product that you have had years to make better or offer more value, but you don’t. You get what you get. Apple’s customers have been clamoring for something better. Had Tile stepped up to the plate they may have never released theirs. Tile had two extra years to make a better product, and a year to figure out how to become the leader on Apple’s network.
Instead they chose to wait two years to play a court attack. Sad.
It's indicative the "fairness" and "equity" diatribe that infects nearly everything these days. If you make investments and take risks to innovate or improve your station in life, there's someone ready to demand you share your success with those who sat and watched.