Article for context:https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/12/23870522/iphone-15-pro-max-thread-smartphones (Ik that I am talking about multiple companies when I refer to android companies but many singular companies make more innovations in the phone space compared to apple)
Tile was around for years before "airtags"
Yes, but tile doesnt work on the mesh network of iPhones everywhere. If I lose my wallet on the bus, I can find that bus or the person who stole my wallet thanks to other people owning Apple phones reporting it to mine over the internet.
Tile has a mesh network, it just isn't as big as Apples. It also isn't enabled by default: you have to mark your tile as "lost" -- which sidesteps the stalking issues airtags have.
Honestly, I doubted this, and looked it up.
Why do you think in only a few years AirTags have become so ubiquitous, while tile has had nearly a decade on them, and are so barely known?
That's pretty easy, because they're marketed by apple and support is built into all ios devices.
Whereas Tile is a third party company and had to hoist their network onto iphones.
It's a common pattern in big tech and part of why it's near impossible for any independent company to get anywhere in the industry
Marketing