Logitech’s Subscription Mouse Idea Pulled Back After Backlash
Logitech’s Subscription Mouse Idea Pulled Back After Backlash
It was just a few months ago that we had some fun with Logitech over it’s amazing, never been done before AI mouse… that was actually just a rehash of a previous mouse that had a button…
I hate AI being intrusive in everything, who needs a mouse button to open the AI prompt!
But also, if you want that, loads of mice have a bunch of buttons you can assign to pretty much anything you want.
Or a keyboard shortcut.
My keyboard cost £10 with a mouse. The keyboard has 104 keys and I would expect it to last at least 5 years. That's £0.02 per key per year. To be competitive, a subscription model for an AI button needs to be less than £0.00333 per month.
Really? Anything??? Can I assign it to bring me self esteme to see myself as worthy of finding happyness? Or will I just remain the same piece of garbage I was before I bought this stupid mouse?
Ya know what? I'm just gonna sleep in the dumpster again. Hopefully this time the garbage men don't notice me, and compact it down.
The most annoying thing was them adding that bullshit to my current mouse’s software without warning.
Logi AI prompt crap I don’t need or want, that I can’t disable, keeps starting up if I kill the process, eating 5-10% of my CPU cycles.
Thankfully there was enough backlash to knock that on the head and they now let you disable it but they seriously got caught up with their own hype there.
HAY GUYS LOOK AT HOW CUSTOMERS LOVE HP AFTER THEIR SWITCH TO SUBSCRIPTION PRINTERS. WE SHOULD DO THAT TOO!
--Overheard from the Logitech C-Suite, probably
It’s just unoriginal thinking. What does every business want? Lots of cash that comes in automatically on a known schedule. How can we do that? Have our customers subscribe. What will they subscribe for? Hmm lifetime speakers? Lifetime cable replacement?
Side note business idea: subscription usb power bricks. We send you a variety of cables that work for everything. If one breaks we send you another. $30/yr
Never worry about broken cables again!
It's probably more "Hey look at what HP got away with. Let's try it".
The term this story should have introduced everyone to is: "Trial balloon"
Logitech were just floating a trial balloon, that is all.
Was just a dopey idea in the first place. Nobody replaces a mouse because it's lacking software features, they replace a mouse when the switches wear out.
And if you can solder you can usually just replace the switches.
Well, this is basically all companies. The management are so disconnected from reality.
at this rate, in 20 years some asshole capitalist will figure out how to monetize air as a subscription service and we'll all be living in a true dystopia
"GIVE THESE PEOPLE AIIIRRR!!!"
Property tax
I was hoping for a Spaceballs reference here...
The first attempt of many, the tech industry will normalise a subscription model alongside the hardware they just need to find the right justification that doesn't have universal push back. It worked for games, the trojan horse used was (often token) multiplayer addition and it will work in hardware too once they find the right combination.
Isn't it already like that with tractors and some phones?
once they find the right combination
Car.
For those unaware, already a thing: https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature
A feel a little bad for the Logitech CEO here. It was basically a softball question, do you ever think you'll have software subscriptions, which is a common thing, and he answered "Yeah, that's possible."
Obviously for a mouse it doesn't really make sense, but paid software updates are common in the industry so who knows.
Obviously it's stupid, but it's funny to see it play out.
Ya, but they were gonna make me buy a subscription for a mouse!
Why pay for something you won't be using all the time? Why not just pay for it only when you're using it? Oh--well yeah, you'll have to buy it first--but then you'll only have to pay to use it when you want to use it, and only when you want to use it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What a fucking breakthrough
For now.
Pulled back for now, to be retweaked and pushed at a later time
It was never a proposed product. The host asked if they could envision it someday and they said yeah.
"Forever Pay For Your Mouse"
That's a more accurate branding.
