Technically? Probably not very.
An open API/architecture would make a lot of sense, would drive down prices for the consumers etc.
I guess they are more afraid of the political consequences since only one "entity" can hold the global AATag data:
Killing off their Android partners business (Samsung et al.), beeing accused you acquiring/building yet another data pool -> Potential Anti Trust issues.
Potentially they could work around some of those issues by creating some kind of non-profit and independent 501c (is that the correct US term?) organization that holds the data and endows it with enough money that it can stay independent.
But does Google want this kind of headache and spend the money?
I don't think any of this analysis is correct. Google already has open APIs for partners to use in other areas, like health tracking. They could do the same with item tracking.
It's more likely that Google is astonishingly bad at product development and doesn't need new OS features for Android to compete for marketshare. People don't buy iPhones for AirTag features.
Don’t they? I don’t think AirTag support is a “must have” feature for many smartphone buyers, but I can see it being a factor that makes a buying choice go the iPhone way.
I also can see AirTags being a factor in keeping an iPhone user an iPhone user, especially for users that have many AirTags.
I guess they are more afraid of the political consequences since only one "entity" can hold the global AATag data: Killing off their Android partners business (Samsung et al.), beeing accused you acquiring/building yet another data pool -> Potential Anti Trust issues.
Potentially they could work around some of those issues by creating some kind of non-profit and independent 501c (is that the correct US term?) organization that holds the data and endows it with enough money that it can stay independent.
But does Google want this kind of headache and spend the money?