How JioTags might beat Apple AirTags? 🤯
How JioTags might beat Apple AirTags? 🤯
Distribution, price point & the network effect.
Welcome to the 159th edition of the GrowthX Newsletter. Every Tuesday & Thursday I write a piece on startups & business growth. Today’s piece is going to 95,300+ operators & leaders from startups like Google, Stripe, Swiggy, Razorpay, CRED & more
Apple AirTags made $1 Billion 💰
Jio launched something similar 🤯
Why Jio might win this war ⬇️
Quick context 🗓
On April 20th 2021, Apple launched AirTag. It’s a super small (3cm in diameter) accessory that you can attach one to your keys. And just like that, you will never have to spend hours finding your lost keys. It’s essentially a “Vardan” for people who forget / lose their stuff during commute / travel or when they are in their homes.
Fast forward 2023 ⚡️
Apple reported over a $1 billion in revenues globally by just selling these tiny “AirTags”. It didn’t contribute any massive dent in Apple’s ~400 Billion (FY22) overall revenue. But, don’t get blinded by that - the $1 billion came in in little over a year, that’s some massive distribution + adoption.
Jio plans to own this space 🇮🇳
JioTag launched as Apple AirTags direct competitor last week and most have missed this story. It’s not a random just for sake launch.
What am I missing, you ask?
Before we get into this whole Jio Vs Apple battle, I want to show you an important co-relation. The price/urgency of the item that typically gets lost very frequently has a direct co-relation to why someone would use an AirTag for.
If you think about it, something like Car Keys being lost can have higher adoption for being used with AirTags than a bicycle keys. The cost of what you finding/how urgent it is matters & how frequently you lose them matters more.
Just think of all the physical items that are important to you & that you keep missing every now & then.
So, why Jio might win this “Tags” market ⬇️
First, loss aversion effect 🥺
Most urban audiences are buying multiple electronic + physical devices that they carry and might lose frequently when at Home/ office/ even commuting. AirTags play on this theory of “loss aversion” - overwhelming fear of loss of physical thing.
Loss aversion is a strong feeling. It’s the same feeling that makes us take term insurance, medical insurance or even buy a security camera for our homes.
Second, pricing is on point 💸
Remember what we spoke few moments back - the higher the price/urgency of the product that you may lose frequently the better it’s going to be a fit use case for AirTags.
₹750 price point of Jio Tags will beat Apple’s ₹3,490 price point, period.
Third, android = market share 🍕
JioTags are compatible with iPhone & android alike. Compare that to Apple’s limited usage with iPhone specific access. Apple sold 6 million iPhones in India last year which is peanuts compares to 144 million android phones sold, same time.
Any android smartphone user spending above ₹25K on the smart phone won’t mind shelling another ₹750 on AirTags if educated well enough. Most android users spend ₹100 to ₹500 on mobile covers & screen guards already.
Fourth, Jio has access to point of sale 🪙
Think the type of distribution Jio has built. There’s the Jio mobile app (with lot of real estate), then there’s this whole deal with smartphone manufacturers of selling these as bundles, will take little effort to add Jio Tags as another bundle offer.
With deeper integrations of Jio with Vivo, Xiaomi, Samsung & few others - Jio Tags can be a insanely faster GTM through these channel parters.
Fifth, it’s a network effect product 📶
This is where it’s get real interesting. Every AirTag sends a secure bluetooth signal to nearby Apple devices, but it can only be read by the owner of the AirTag. That means, even if you are outside the AirTag range of 33ft, all you need is another apple user in that distance from your AirTag - how cool.
Considering JioTags will have potentially mass adoption compared to Apple AirTags, Jio will get the network effect advantage. Remember 6 million Vs 144 million smartphones, friend?
That’s all for now ❤️
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While the article talks about all the great things jio tags can possibly do , not sure if one has experienced the product when writing this article.
I have used jio tags. It is a pathetic product and no where close to what apple tags can solve. Not even worth 100 Rs . It needs Bluetooth range to be able to find the tag and the app is horrible and drains the battery. Even if one ignores the app, the fact that it requires Bluetooth connection for tracking , the range is limited.
Building a copy product needs to be done well . Same issue was with jio phone and jio laptop. H/W is something jio should think 10 times before it does.
Just launching things cheap , doens't work . Having a great product which works is the first most important thing.