Is it overwhelmingly easier to find digital devices? Interestingness of Apple Find My Strategy (1/2)

Apple announced the launch of the "Find My Network Accessory Program" on April 7th. It allows third-party Bluetooth products to have the "find" feature that is implemented with AirPods.

This Find My Network-Aware Accessory Program is part of the MFi Certification Program, and compatible products are marked with the "Works with Apple Find My" mark. It's also featured in the "Find My" program for developers on the MFI Certification Program page.

You can find compatible products with the Find My app, just like AirPods and other Apple products.

This is valid on iOS 14.3 and above (11.1 and above on Mac OS). Of course you need to enable Bluetooth and location services to use it. In addition to finding it with the app you are looking for, if you lose it, Bluetooth pairing of compatible products will be disabled and you will not be able to pair with other devices, so you can rest assured. In addition, the third party can develop products compatible with products with built-in U1 chips such as iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 by developing based on the information of the chip set maker announced on the same day, in this case even higher accuracy. It is said that the position can be specified.

It is possible to develop a completely wireless earphone that supports the search function.

In response to this, Belkin has announced a completely wireless earphone "SOUNDFORM Freedom" compatible with this "Apple Find My technology". It seems that the tag is built in the charging case, not the earphone body.

On the other hand, with regard to earphones, other than Apple, such a function to prevent things left behind has already been put into practical use. For example, the loss prevention tag "Tile".

The Tile feature is used not only in loss prevention tags, but also in wireless audio products such as Skullcandy and GLIDiC. Tile's tracking function is built into the earphone body, and it can handle the loss of only one side. For example, "Sound Air TW 7100".

In the case of Tile, a warning sound will be emitted from the Tile app within the range of Bluetooth, and if it is out of range, information on the last connected location will be known. In addition, when a person using the Tile app passes near the device, the location information can be specified through the person's smartphone.

This last feature is similar to the Apple product network of search features introduced by Apple since iOS 13. If your Apple product is close to your Apple product, you can find it via Bluetooth. Of course, Apple products have a huge number of users, so it's safe to say that Apple has a lot to offer. In that sense, Apple's new Find My program is very appealing.