Logitech has an idea for a “forever mouse” that requires a subscription
Logitech has an idea for a “forever mouse” that requires a subscription
Exec says mouse that requires a regular fee for software updates is possible.
This is so absurd. The only updates peripherals need are firmware bug fixes. And it's a standard that these updates are free. Having subscriptions for hardware is kinda dystopic tbh
From the podcast:
Some only have a mouse or only a keyboard, but many of them have both. But the thing that shocked me was that the average spend on that globally is $26, which is really so low. This is stuff you use every day, that sits on your desk every day, that you look at every day. That’s like the price of four coffees at Starbucks or less than a Nike running shirt. There is so much room to create more value in that space as we make people more productive — to extend human potential.
You know why on average people spend so little? Because a mouse is just a mouse. It doesn't need to do anything besides controlling the cursor. It doesn't need a "dedicated AI button that launches Logi AI Prompt Builder" (which is just a ChatGPT wrapper btw)
I don't want to be that one person that just complains about capitalism under every post, but things like this make it hard. We have already perfected the design of a mouse. But every year publicly traded companies need to make more money than in the previous year, so let's add subscriptions to everything. And also AI, because investors love it
I have an idea for Logitech: Go fuck yourselves
I've already got a "forever mouse".
I plug it in, it needs no updates because it's a fucking mouse.
Hilarious. Logitech’s software has always been an afterthought and now they want me to pay for it? Goooo fuck yourselves. I had to sell a perfectly good keyboard and mouse because their stupid g-hub is harder to navigate than a g-spot.
It kept doing updates and every time it did, it would clobber all my macros and bindings and basically factory reset. I had a txt document on my desktop with all my configs so I could set them back up whenever it decided the configuration gods required a sacrifice.
corporate brain rot
No thank you, and get fucked.
In other words: They want me to never buy a Logitech product ever again. Fuck you greedy corporate shitpiles!
I was intrigued by the idea, I was like, "oooh a modular mouse where it could be a trackball or vertical mouse or multi-sensor components with obvious replacement parts that they'd sell to make it easy on repair"!
Then I saw software and I'm like wtf? do I look like I need something else to Crowdstrike me? "Can't work today boss, credit card didn't update my mouse subscription hang on...."
Uh, what would I be paying for, exactly? I don't really see what Software support a mouse really needs, as long as it doesn't ship buggy. Also, I've been using my (Logitech, funnily) mouse for 6 years now, and if you ignore the few scratches it has gathered, it still works pretty much perfectly.
Also, if their solution for a longer lasting mouse really is repairability, isn't that just their way of saying "we designed our other products to be thrown away"?
It really feels like they developed a revenue stream prior to developing a product. All we've heard is some "Ai features" would be a subscription service, but their software has been preety universally mid at best, and AI is starting to see some backlash. We are seeing companies try to cram AI into everything even when it has no purpose being there. I get the feeling that companies are starting to catch onto this AI investments have become ridiculously expensive and have provided nearly zero additional value to their products and services.
Lol I actually had to check to make sure this wasn't published on April 1st. Missed joke opportunity, this is hilarious
logitech's software is trash across the board.
Have their MX keyboard and their logi+ software regualrly craps out making the function/special keys unusable until i log off/back on. Sometimes WHILE im using the keyboard.
And their gaming stuff is no better. Many times just having the logitech g suite software running means my mic will randomly stop working, if i remove the software the headset runs fine.
Their hardware is solid, but there is a 0% chance i would pay for their software.
Even assuming that I wasn't put off by having a subscription for a physical object, how could it possibly be financially viable for me to do that.
It would be cheaper for me to simply buy a new mouse every 4 or 5 years, and realistically I don't replace my mice that often. It's a mouse they don't really get to be that expensive even if you go for all the optional bells and whistles.
Maybe they could, like, put good switches in their high end mice? And building them in a modular, repairable way?
I had a G903 with the wireless charging pad. The switches starting going bad within a year. I tried replacing those switches with higher quality ones, but a ribbon cable broke while getting it apart. The ribbon cable had one end sealed inside a module, so you have the replace that whole thing. Ended up writing the whole thing off and bought a Glorious (which are quite nice).
Won't touch their high end mouses anymore. Their cheap wireless mice are still pretty good and will run on a single AA battery forever (how? I don't know). Why do they cut corners on the high end of the market?
this type of shit should be illegal
Yeah, maybe work on making their switches not start double-clicking after a couple of years first.
I'm on my third-or-fourth one that has done this to me. Once this one gets too bad (they inevitably do) I am through with them. It's a shame because I really do like their peripherals. The mouse that convinced to keep buying them was an excellent device that lasted a very long time and I only replaced because it was a dinosaur. I used their solar powered keyboard for a decade-and-a-half, too, until I accidentally dropped something on it and broke it. Now, the switches in their mice die on me after a year or two without fail. They've clearly cheaped out on components. Fuck em. Goodbye Logitech. I will not miss their software.
I have mice that I bought 35 years ago that still work. I had to replace the buttons on one I got 20yrs ago, but it’s a daily driver and the switches are hella cheap and like a 5min solder job. Make them socketed and it’s now a forever mouse. Done.
Haha more like a never mouse
How exactly are software updates supposed to extend the life of a mouse?
I get that theoretically with a subscription, they could offer to replace your mouse if the hardware broke. (Sortof like an extended warranty that you reup every month or year or whatever. Not that that isn't a scam, but I can at least see how it could maybe look good on paper to certain people.) But that has nothing to do with software.
If the software breaks due to a software problem (and, be honest, how many people in the history of the world have ever had a mouse break due to a software problem?), I'd think it would be unlikely you could get an update to the mouse. And if the hardware breaks, the chance that it can be fixed (or even worked around) with a software update seems negligible.
Are they thinking with software updates they'll make it continue to support newer wireless communication protocols that don't exist yet or some BS like that? Not that that makes sense either.
Am I missing something or is the BS in this idea more evident than in most?
Side question since this concept is obviously rent seeking... Why is there not a market for premium custom mice like there are for keyboards?
All the mice over the ~$80 range seem to only be gamer mice or focus on adding more and more buttons. Why aren't there options that are customizable or more premium?
I get that no one wants a solid machined aluminum mouse but surely there is something more premium than adding more buttons.
I really hope there aren't people stupid enough to buy or even want that.
They already have a forever mouse - its called Logitech MX518 - at this point its over 18 years old, and beside some small paint deficiencies it has no other issues. And it was used quite heavily - it survived years of intensive button mashing in Diablo2 and many other games...
Really, I'm not against this model if it were simply a low monthly fee to rent hardware and have it perpetually fixed and maintained. For a mouse I couldn't imagine more than $1-2. I would feel good paying that knowing that the mouse wouldn't go onto the trash heap when it stopped working well.
But of course that's not what they are thinking. They are thinking you still pay an exorbitant up front cost, plus you pay an exorbitant subscription on top of that.
Ah yes, the industry first MaaS. What will they think of next. nuclear facepalm
Wait is this an onion?
Arent mouse already "forever" mice. Like what goes wrong in them? I've never had a wired laser mouse fail, and the batteries ones I usually lose the adapter or let it corrode before the mouse actually fails
And if anything I only buy a new mouse for aesthetics. Or when their old mouse is grody
I’ll pass
"Forever subscription mouse"
I didn’t see Sonos being dropped from my list of companies to buy products from in 2024, is Logitech joining that list this year too?
On the right track it seems!
A brand, that hasn't sold anything with good software/firmware, is trying to make a software-focused product. Peak comedy
But the Ploopy mouse already exists.
I'd rather just spend a few coins on a cheap mouse every 5-7 years which don't require a subscription to use and also don't bother me by asking me to update them either.
This is moronic if we let this nonsense continue how long until we have to subscribe for a microwave, tv, hifi, salt grinder etc.
Stop giving these things money please.
This is why Chinese knock offs are winning.
Not because of price, but because of shit like this.
An idea for a mouse I will never buy in a million years
Company that makes Mice: Hey, what if we actually built a good mouse!
Tangential: Is there any community for mice akin to the mechanical keyboard community?
Would love to buy an alternative but every time I do any research it boils down to "razer or logitech" with everything else being orders of magnitude shittier.
"Oooh! we wanna help the environment! Look at how green we are! It's gonna last you a lifetime. Such quality. Such emotional investment into your personal mouse!"
Bitch! You are just inventing stupid ideas about how to turn a hardware company into a service company, because you know that is where the money is.
Or, you can use a completely open source mouse. You can 3D print replacement parts. You can get new circuit boards. You can change the buttons . You can modify the firmware QMK
Vance Packard warned us, in his book, The Waste Makers.
I’d be more willing to pay Logitech for a subscription to never have to touch their software again.
Oh no, anyway. Glad I never touched their peripherals because they're overpriced like Razer and other bigger companies.
clicking away with my knockoff OEM reliable gaming mouse
Imo software update for Mouse is not that necessarily crucial unless you had nasty bugs like Cooler Master during launching their mouse. My endgame mouse is MM712 and happy with that👍🏼
Also you can build your own mouse though iirc may be harder than building DIY keyboard (sc: built custom macropad for college project).
forever subscription, you say?
To be fair they only said having a subscription for the accompanying software was a 'possibility', not that it would need one, and that it would be likely to be in the ~$200 price range, and with upgradeability and repairability in mind, as well as reliant on software updates.
Honestly depending on how much they lean toward the subscription and/or software update reliance having a mouse designed to last a lifetime and be upgradeable and repairable would be nice, even at a rather higher price point.