Apple Introduces AirTags and Could Start an Antitrust Case against Apple

This $29 AirTag could be the future of AR (Augmented Reality) for Apple.

Like millions of Apple fanboys, I did watch Apple’s Spring Loaded, and who would forget this video below when Apple introduced AirTags.

What are AirTags?

Let Apple do the talking — AirTags are an iPhone accessory that provides a private and secure way to locate the items that matter most easily.

It is nothing new, but it uses a different technology from what is already available in the market. Here is where Tile believes that Apple has an unfair advantage, Apple’s mere decision to enter this market with its item-locating tracker will allow it to dominate because of its first-party advantage and ecosystem power easily.

When I attended a marketing event by Facebook in Singapore, I received as gifts the Tile Bluetooth tracker, which I gave to my Dad as a present so that if and when he loses his keys, we can find it using the Tile app.

My Dad most likely has lost the Tile, and I haven’t heard of Tile until today.

There are other Bluetooth trackers out in the market, but Tile feels Apple has an undue advantage as it leverages its ecosystem. With over a billion Apple devices globally, each one is like a piece of the puzzle that can help anyone with an Apple device find a missing object.

Tile believes Apple’s Find My app will give the company’s rumored AirTags accessory for finding physical objects a leg up over third-party rivals.

I have a hunch Apple AirTags is just the start of a service or a product that Apple can’t divulge as of yet.

AirTags — The Future of AR

It may or may not happen. But to think that Apple will invest in a product with a low price point goes against its grain to significantly change consumer behavior. A case in point is the iPhone.

In an article from WIRED;

This latter feature points to another emerging platform for Apple: augmented reality. While the company didn’t explicitly say AirTags will be used in AR apps, immersive computing experts point out that the AirTags technology uses ARKit, Apple’s software framework for AR, and tying digital information to nearby physical objects is an essential step in the evolution of this tech.

We will never know what Apple or Tim Cooks has under their sleeves.

But for what are AirTags now, they are “inexpensive accessories” that most iPhone users are unnecessary but valuable. While AirTags starts at $29 apiece, a customized AirTag Hermès starts at $349. Still, we know that this expensive version of AirTags will be popular with the proper marketing with those who find Hermès as aspirational.

It could be the first Hermès product for most young women.

The 10 Things You Need to Know about Apple AirTags

1. Setting up an AirTag is almost magically easy. — Hold it next to your iPhone, and within a split second, an image of the AirTag appears on-screen, prompting you to connect. — Gizmodo
2. You can ask Siri for help find your missing item. — It can use Bluetooth and the “Find My” app.
3. The AirTag has Apple’s ultra-wideband U1 chip. — This differentiates it from the Tile Bluetooth tracker, as this allows for precision finding.
4. Sorry, older iPhone models don’t have the U1 chip. — It starts with iPhone 11 and up.
5. When you enable Lost Mode, you can add your contact number. — If someone with an NFC-capable device (either iOS or Android) stumbles upon your AirTag, they can tap the device to the AirTag and see your contact info.
6. Battery life is good. — It also uses the inexpensive CR2032 battery that can last for a year.
7. AirTag includes support for the accessibility features built into iOS. — Precision Finding using VoiceOver, for example, can direct users who are blind or low-vision to AirTag with directions like “AirTag is 9 feet away on your left.”
8. Privacy and Security Built In. — AirTag is designed from the ground up to keep location data private and secure. No location data or location history is physically stored inside AirTag. Communication with the Find My network is end-to-end encrypted. Only the owner of a device has access to its location data, and no one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it.
9. Apple AirTags are environment-friendly accessories. — Apple’s commitment to ensures that the AirTag will utilize 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board, is free of harmful substances and highly energy-efficient and uses wood fiber in the packaging that is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.
10. Apple’s AirTag is the cheapest Apple product. — It starts at $29 each and is now available.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Unwanted Tracking Needs Serious Work

In the article in Gizmodo, Caithlin Mc Garry raised the same issues that I have on my mind, how these small devices, while designed to do good, are inexpensive tools for bad people with bad intentions to harm others.

While Apple claims AirTags have built-in so-called “anti-stalker” measures that should prevent bad actors from improperly using AirTags to track people. Remember: AirTags are about the size of a large coin, so concealing them in a bag or pocket is a genuine concern. — Tim Brookes for How-To Geek

Bad actors are known to find ways to circumvent any built-in measures to protect any person from harm.

It’s clearly possible to track people without them being notified at all is troubling. — Caithlin McGarry for Gizmodo

Even Apple says the AirTags are simple accessories designed to help people find items.

It could also be part of the bigger game Apple has in store for us in the future in the same way iPhones have changed our lives with the way we use our phones.

Only time can tell if AirTags will deliver something life-changing as the iPhones.