AirTag Competitor Tile Getting Acquired by Location Sharing App Life360
Tile, known for its range of Bluetooth-based tracking accessories that compete with the AirTag, is being acquired by location tracking service Life360, Tile announced today.
Tile will continue to be operated as a standalone brand under Tile CEO CJ Prober, but Tile says that when the acquisition is completed, it will be able to leverage Life360's 33 million smartphone users to grow Tile's Finding network by 10x. Tile's network is the equivalent of Apple's Find My network, leveraging nearby devices to locate lost items.
Life360 has what it calls a "family safety platform" that allows family members to keep tabs on one another with tracking software on smartphones. It's primarily used by parents to track their children and teenagers, and it has raised privacy concerns.
With the Tile acquisition, Life360 founder Chris Hulls says that Life360 will be able to provide an "all-encompassing solution" for locating people, pets, and things with cross-platform tracking and combined service for tracking items and people.
Individuals and families will be able to tap into Life360's flagship mobile app, a market leading app for families with features that range from communications to driving safety and location sharing. Additionally, people will be able to seamlessly leverage Tile's bluetooth-enabled finding devices trackers, which can equip nearly any item -- such as wallets, keys or remotes -- with location-based finding technology. Tile's technology is also embedded in over 50 different third-party devices, ranging from wireless earbuds and headphones to laptops to retainer cases to dog collars.
Life360's Tile acquisition deal is valued at $205 million and it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
Popular Stories
Apple suppliers will begin mass production of the fourth-generation iPhone SE in December, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a blog post.
The fourth-generation iPhone SE is expected to have a similar design as the base iPhone 14, with rumored features including a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, a newer A-series chip, a USB-C port, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, 8GB of RAM...
Apple today released a new firmware update for the original AirPods Pro, the AirPods 2, the AirPods 3, and the Lightning version of the AirPods Max headphones. The new firmware is version 6F21, up from the prior 6A326 firmware that these devices were previously running.
There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but given that these are all older models, it is likely that the new...
Apple's Mac mini has long been a powerhouse in a compact form, offering impressive performance in a small package. With rumors swirling about a completely overhauled new model that is likely just days away from being announced, anticipation is building for what Apple has in store.
From enhanced connectivity to major hardware upgrades, the upcoming Mac mini promises to bring significant...
Apple has abruptly reduced production of the Vision Pro headset and could stop making the current version of the device completely by the end of 2024, The Information reports.
Citing multiple people "directly involved" in making components for the headset, the report says that the scaling back of production began in the early summer. This indicates that Apple now has a sufficient number of...
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.1 on Monday, October 28, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks the first significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a ...
The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen this summer interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook about the Vision Pro, innovation, Apple Intelligence, and more.
Image Credit: Vanity Fair
Cook admitted that the Vision Pro headset is not a mass-market product due to its high price.
"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," said Cook. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have...
Apple's Greg Joswiak today made it clear that Apple plans to reveal new products next week, teasing refreshed Macs. In a social media post, Joswiak said to "Mac your calendars" because there's an exciting week of announcements that start on Monday morning.
With Joswiak's announcement, it appears that there will not be a dedicated October event for Macs this year, with Apple instead...
Just a few hours after claiming that the first Macs with M4 chips are launching "very soon," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has followed up with a slightly more specific timeframe. In his latest social media post today, he said an "M4 Mac launch" is on Apple's schedule for next week, but he did not mention a specific day.
A concept of a smaller Mac mini with front-facing USB-C ports
"Busy week for...
Apple is planning to launch its first Macs with the M4 series of chips "very soon," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a social media post today, Gurman said these Macs will include new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini models specifically. He continues to expect the next Mac mini to feature a "revamped" design, in line with his previous reporting that said the new model will be nearly...