I believe it has been asked before: apart from the "cool" factor, what problem does this tag solve, or why would it be a convenience? You still have to drop of your bag, and getting a piece of paper printed at that time doesn't appear to be too much of an issue. I don't think I'll invest in an electronic tag any time soon that is only supported by one airline and one suitcase manufacturer and only accessible through an iOS phone.
Are there any plans in sight of other airlines and other suitcase manufacturers supporting this technology in the near future? If not, this looks like a dead end to me.
Most likely the advantages will only show up in a future where the baggage drop-off location is just a hole in a wall with a bar code scanner. That is probably the greatest advantage: to eliminate the big lines of people waiting for a tag while dropping off the luggage. Sure, you can also buy business class, and skip lines, but this would be a cheaper alternative.
This, of course, relies on these tags becoming a de facto standard, or at least have enough critical mass for airlines/airports invest in automated bag collection machines. On their website they mention they're in conversations with other airlines (United, EVA Air, Condor...) but I imagine it'll take a while until it's commonplace.
Originally Posted by
ralfkrippner
I'll wait untill there is a general norm for these tags working for most airlines and itineraries. That Rimowa hasn't been able to launch an android app for this product baffles me. 10% of their marketing budget for this product reassigned to software should fix this quickly...
Not to sound presumptuous, but the statistics show that if you're targeting a luxury product, iPhone owners are a better target audience. They will make an Android app, but it's not a priority.