No, Apple is prioritizing good publicity. A motivated stalker will just be using another product, which is a net financial negative for Apple. They just don’t want the possibility of the news talking about how someone got assaulted thanks to an Apple device.
But also, I agree that this is about reputational liability more than some higher desire to do good. But IMHO it's also doing some actual good.
I don't think you can speak to the relative likelihood of these with any confidence. There are lots of people for whom stalking is a much bigger problem than theft.
The things you want to "protect" with an invisible AirTag are, at their core "just stuff".
The things being protected by not selling an invisible AirTag are, at their core "people".
I'm not a female, so I don't anticipate a civilian stalking me for really any reason. A non-civilian wouldn't use an airtag.
Zero stalkers are stopped because of airtag policies, since many other devices exist.
People have been stalking each other since long before airtags.
> many other devices exist
So use one of them?
Do you also post complaints that GE Washing machines don't have a built-in method to cook a fucking chicken?
Also, wouldn't this argument apply to the use of AirTags as anti-theft devices? Since AirTag alternatives exist, just use the alternatives devices for anti-theft that also work for stalking. But some people don't do this and just want to use AirTags for anti-theft purposes. Which sort of illustrates my point. Fewer people do a thing when it's harder. No would care that AirTags aren't good for anti-theft if there were alternatives equally as good.
No it doesn't.
You sure you still wanna pull that switch?
And I know, I know, the downvoterinos!
I don't actually care about this issue at all. The observation is: that moral grandstanding of "woman's lives to stolen bicycles" is somewhat amusing when the hardware is built on the backs of underpaid people in the global south. All so people can have little toys of convenience.
It's likely that Apple doesn't care about woman's lives either, for what it's worth. Just the negative PR associated with the problem at hand.
The other side of this is that it can't be used to slip into someone's purse as they leave the bar and then be tracked unknowingly.
Apple leaves the door open for manufacturers to implement an anti-theft device into their goods that address both concerns.
Seems just as easy to boost the phone while you're dropping the tag.
There are much better options for vehicle tracking and theft prevention so I would personally prefer it to be harder for thieves or stalkers to track using these very easy to get devices.