[yardie]

The fact that something is being tracked and the thieves know it’s being tracked is a deterrent itself. Like the value of stolen iPhones crashed because activation lock made them worthless. So they moved on to Samsung Galaxies, until they implemented their own activation lock.

If you steal a bike with a tracker on it you’ll probably leave it right there for the real owner to find.

[crhulls]

Of course I know this, but I am trying to go deeper. With AirTags and the new standards you literally can find and disable the tag for anyone using the Google or Apple networks.

I am surprised that people think the benefits of AirTags outweigh the downsides given the alternatives, of which we are one. I'm mainly just trying to learn.

I also think you probably are overestimating the deterrent value. Thieves are not necessarily thoughtful and the alerts aren't real time. Once they get the alert they might ditch the bike, but if it is back at their garage they will probably disable or remove it.

I also am a bit triggered by this line "Honestly, you as the CEO should know this." which is on the edge of being an ad hominem. Why did you choose to include this? And wouldn't you know that I know these things? Like I am asking questions to get nuanced user feedback. Do you think someone who runs a consumer product company (I started Life360, Tile's owner), isn't deeply aware of how customers think?

[yardie]

First, I want to apologize. The last statement came out a lot more combatant than I realized. So I removed it.

I was a Tile wallet user until I stopped carrying a wallet completely. There are 2 types of thieves: the professional and the opportunistic. Opportunistic, the majority, aren't doing more than they have to and if the bike has a tracker they know about it makes it less appealing. And if you can get the casual thief to give up immediately then the device has already payed for itself.

The professional will chop it immediately. I see kids in my neighborhood with $2000+ Trek Marlins, with all the expensive mountain bike parts removed. They simply wanted a bike to freestyle on. And doing all that probably took hours if not days. The professional is not going to spend anymore time than they have to disable a tracker when there are better options all around.

[crhulls]

Interesting, thanks for the insights.