You are missing the point.
They are not the target audience, but they are affected negatively by it regardless. It's for Apple users at the expense of everyone else.
The criticism is not about the individual utility of airtags, it's about how it creates a privacy issue for everyone who is not an Apple user.
And you should read past the first line.
> The criticism is not about the individual utility of airtags, it's about how it creates a privacy issue for everyone who is not an Apple user.
In the same manner, it’s not about utility of individual phone cases, it’s about all the plastic waste it creates for the whole planet.
Normally I buy $10 umbrellas from Australia's big hardware store chain. They aren't great but they're easily robust enough to last for a year or two. (Cheap umbrellas from anywhere else tend to break if you look at them funny, and they rust if you get them wet.)
I'd be willing to pay $120 AUD (or $80 USD) for an umbrella that was seriously good quality, recognising that the economics imply that it would need to last for at least a decade to be cost competitive.
It's why Amsterdam bicyclists don't ride $5000 bikes.
*Especially in Tokyo. If you drop a wallet full of cash on the street in Tokyo, someone will chase you down to return it. But if you turn your back on your umbrella in Tokyo, kiss it goodbye. Then you have to steal another one.
How civilized, I thought, that a company would provide free umbrellas to shoppers when it rains, and so I took one.
Turns out that's where you out your umbrella when entering the store...
https://au.davekny.com/ has good stuff although I haven't had one long enough (only 5 years) to attest its durability.
They also have some promising guarantee terms: https://au.davekny.com/pages/lifetime-guarantee
My partner has probably been through about ten umbrellas in the same time-span, because she was reluctant to spend the modest extra amount for something she doubted would last so long. I recently bought her the same model of umbrella from MUJI, although it’s too early to say whether the company has maintained the build quality.
I think it’s this one (but hard to tell on their awful website) https://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?PID=14951&qclr=45503441...
Sports direct (of all places) ships them to Australia and they are around half of your budget (https://au.sportsdirect.com/fulton).
Totally agree with your point.
I once left my umbrella in a hire car. It took me 2 weeks to realize it was missing. Turns out no one touched it and I could see it on the map, in the parking lot of the hire car company. So I showed up, and within minutes, we pinned down which car it was in. Without Airtag, I would not even remember where I could have possibly left it, after two weeks! Learnt my lesson to turn on separation alert after that.
Now I need a smaller Airtag for my sunglasses — expensive and easy to leave behind.
Needing an Airtag is like needing a case for your phone. A lot of people keep dropping their phone so they put a case on it. In 13 years of owning a smart phone, I've never dropped mine. But I don't claim that phone cases are only useful if you throw your partner's phone off the balcony after a fight.