Bluetooth accessory maker Tile has written to the European Union accusing Apple of abuse of power and of illegally favoring its own products.
According to a report by Financial Times, in a letter sent on Tuesday to the European Commissioner for Competition, the accessory maker said that Apple is making it harder for users to use Tile products on iPhone because it has its own rival Find My app.
In a letter sent to European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday, California-based tracking app maker Tile argued that Apple was making it more difficult for users to operate its product on their smartphones compared to Apple's own rival application, FindMy, by selectively disabling features that allow for seamless user experience.
Tile asked the EU to investigate Apple's business practices, echoing previous calls made by the accessory maker in the United States. Specifically, Tile complains about changes Apple made to location services in iOS 13, which encourage customers not to use always-on location tracking. In addition, Tile said changing these options involve navigating between "complex settings not easy to find."
The report notes that Apple is also rumored to be launching its own AirTags item tracking tags soon. MacRumors uncovered evidence of AirTags within iOS 13 code last year. The tags will be closely integrated with the new Find My app, which will be getting an "Items" tab. Users will receive a notification when they are separated from a tagged item, and if necessary, they can set an AirTag to start making sounds to help locate the lost item.
In the letter, Tile goes on to claim that its product is being denied "equal placement" on the App Store and that Apple has terminated its agreement to sell Tile products in its retail stores, perhaps with one eye on the upcoming launch of AirTags.
Apple responded to the letter with the following statement:
"We strenuously deny the allegations of uncompetitive behavior that Tile is waging against us. Consistent with the critical path we've been on for over a decade, last year we introduced further privacy protections that safeguard user location data. Tile doesn't like those decisions so instead of arguing the issue on its merits, they've instead decided to launch meritless attacks."
The EU has said it intends to reply to Tile's letter and will launch preliminary investigations following the allegations.
Because macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and Apple Music are the best examples about good programming. The irony at it best.
They are when you look at the Apple ecosystem in its entirety.
Apple Music on its own may seem unspectacular, but what about Apple Music streaming on the Apple Watch and controlled via Siri? Think about the work that goes into not just Apple Music, but also the Apple Watch (and cellular connectivity) to make everything come together.
And it’s ironic that you bring up iOS 13 and Catalina, because it factors into my next few points below.
The number of ways Tile loses out to Apple, off the top of my head.
1) Their hardware / software experience was never great. I used it a couple of years back, and it was just full of bugs. Connectivity problems, severe battery drain, and low install base overall.
2) Tile has a huge ecosystem disadvantage compared to Apple. Apple can do things for free that Tile requires a subscription for. Tile can never run fully backgrounded or have access to iOS at a system level.
3) No matter how many tiles are sold, it will be way less than the number of devices running iOS 13 or macOS Catalina. In countries like Singapore, iPhones are commonplace but tile devices are practically non-existent (based on the last time I used them).
4) Apple has a very compelling privacy and encryption story for “Find my”. They use a key that is unique and changes for every device so even if someone can see all the pings in the real world, it cannot be tied back to a user. It’s very compelling and well-thought-through and it’s something Tile will never be able to match on an engineering level.
Even if Tile somehow gets Apple to capitulate on (2), they still lose out in all the other areas. There is no reason why I would get a Tile over the Airtags (when they do get released), and the reason for this is very simple - Airtags are going to offer a better user experience overall.
And Apple has earned this because of all the work that goes into making their own platform, and I think there is a lot more clever programming and engineering that goes on behind the scenes than people give Apple credit for.
I don't want to be tracked in the first place, and thankfully Apple makes that more difficult. If Tile can't get behind user privacy I don't want any part of them.
Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how NameDrop functions. As noted by The Washington...
Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by Joe Rossignol
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Wednesday November 29, 2023 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is discontinuing in-house modem development after several unsuccessful attempts to perfect its own custom 5G modem chip, according to unconfirmed reports coming out of Asia. According to the operator of news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, supply chain sources related to Apple's 5G modem departments claim that the company's attempts to develop its own modem have...
Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by Joe Rossignol
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...
Top Rated Comments
Apple Music on its own may seem unspectacular, but what about Apple Music streaming on the Apple Watch and controlled via Siri? Think about the work that goes into not just Apple Music, but also the Apple Watch (and cellular connectivity) to make everything come together.
And it’s ironic that you bring up iOS 13 and Catalina, because it factors into my next few points below.
The number of ways Tile loses out to Apple, off the top of my head.
1) Their hardware / software experience was never great. I used it a couple of years back, and it was just full of bugs. Connectivity problems, severe battery drain, and low install base overall.
2) Tile has a huge ecosystem disadvantage compared to Apple. Apple can do things for free that Tile requires a subscription for. Tile can never run fully backgrounded or have access to iOS at a system level.
3) No matter how many tiles are sold, it will be way less than the number of devices running iOS 13 or macOS Catalina. In countries like Singapore, iPhones are commonplace but tile devices are practically non-existent (based on the last time I used them).
4) Apple has a very compelling privacy and encryption story for “Find my”. They use a key that is unique and changes for every device so even if someone can see all the pings in the real world, it cannot be tied back to a user. It’s very compelling and well-thought-through and it’s something Tile will never be able to match on an engineering level.
Even if Tile somehow gets Apple to capitulate on (2), they still lose out in all the other areas. There is no reason why I would get a Tile over the Airtags (when they do get released), and the reason for this is very simple - Airtags are going to offer a better user experience overall.
And Apple has earned this because of all the work that goes into making their own platform, and I think there is a lot more clever programming and engineering that goes on behind the scenes than people give Apple credit for.