Tile should—and needs to—do better than the DIY-looking “Tile for Cats”
Enlarge / So they put a Tile tracker on a cat... now what? (credit: Tile)
Did you know Tile sells Bluetooth trackers for your cat? Why don't you just stick a small tracker on something cheap and attach it to your cat's collar, you say? Well, that's exactly what Tile did. At a time when Bluetooth-tracking companies should be rethinking their approach and reputation among shoppers, a Tile Sticker slapped on a cheap collar attachment feels like a wasted opportunity.
It took a surprisingly long time for Tile to release an official pet tracker, but Tile for Cats finally became available Wednesday for $40-$10 more than a Tile Sticker's solo MSRP. Tile's announcement describes the product as the simplistic solution it is. It merely combines Tile Sticker with a silicone collar attachment."
And that's the first reason why Tile for Cats doesn't feel like an exciting new product-and it doesn't look like one either. If someone wanted something that looked like a DIY pet tracker, they'd probably make one. That device would also probably have something cuter written on it than "Tile," like this GPS pet tracker on Hackaday that says "Squeak."