New TILE Tracker Predictions & New Tile Premium Service

Every year around September companies start announcing and releasing new products for the 4th quarter of the year. Aka Q4.  Meaning the holiday season. The busiest time of the year for retail purchases.  Every company wants to advertise and promote their products and the best way to do that is with something new and cool to get everybody's attention. Tile, Inc. has done that just about every year for the past few years.  They release the Tile Slim, the slimmest bluetooth tracker of it's time and then the new Tile Mate. The redesigned of its hit tracker, the Tile. A perfect bluetooth tracker for your keys and pretty much anything else you can glue it on to. Then last year, they release their new Tile Pro Series featuring the Tile Sport and the Tile Style.  Both of which really out did the competition when it came to distance.

This year Tile, Inc. will be releasing something new. What it is is till unknown but by being the top reviewer of bluetooth trackers, I have my hypothesis.  

1.  a Tile Slim Pro -  Similar to Tile Slim but thinner, louder, and with better range. 
2.  a Tile with a replaceable battery

The more I think about it, I think its going to be number 2.  Tile's biggest compliant is that you have to buy a new tracker every year. Yes, you can get one cheaper through its re-Tile program but no matter which way you look it, it is a subscription model. Consumers these days, including myself, are sick and tired of a subscription models. I want to buy it once and have it forever. 

Thus, I think Tile is going to have two models with one tracker. They have announced that they are rolling out Tile Premium Service. (only for iOS devices, Android coming soon) A service that includes, Smart Alerts, Location History and Unlimited Sharing:

• Smart Alerts lets you know when you leave home without your Tiles or Tile-enabled devices.
• Location History shows you where your Tiles or Tile-enabled devices have been for the last 30 days.
• Unlimited Sharing allows you to share your Tile with as many trusted friends and family members as you want.

It's going to cost an user $2.99 USD a month or $29.99 a year to subscribe to the Tile Premium Service.  But it's not something that you have to subscribe to unless you want those services. So many users will just buy a Tile with a replaceable battery and use it the way they currently have been. If Tile can get enough people to subscribe to these new services though, then it will be a win win situation for both Tile and the consumer. 

I personally love the idea of Smart Alerts, which alerts you of leaving your tracker behind. So if you leave your keys or your wallet behind, your phone will ring. If you leave your phone behind, your tracker will beep.  I actually use another brand of tracker more often becasue they already have these types of alerts enabled. Tile tried last year to get their Smart Alerts working but as a beta user of the service, it never worked.  Now they want to start these service again, I'm super excited but now knowing they are going to charge for it, I'm very disappointed. Yes, it will also be great to have location history but at 30 bucks a year, its not worth it.  

All is all, I hope Tile, Inc. releases a Tile with a replaceable battery and let consumers decided if they want the additional services, but at least we are not throwing away devices that still work.