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…
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.
It's not a dopey idea, it's an enshitification one, and one we will see again because there are no consequences.
Logitech will have subscription hardware, guaranteed. They'll just go back to the drawing board on how to market anti-consumer practices better.
And similarly are antitrust regulations have done nothing to prevent companies like Logitech from just acquiring all of their competitors and then doing this anyways once there is no more competition. And even using potential competitors into bankruptcy before they can actually compete.
Pull back for a moment, and goes a little bit softer than the last and see if it sticks.If it sticks, it becomes the new standard for every similar corpo.
Rinse and repeat.
Just look at when Bethesda tried to sell a horse armor for Skyrim. Now it's the norm.
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)_/¯
We already do, with intentionally fast breaking switches. They get away with charging $100 for a mouse, and ensuring a $0.30 part will break long before the devices useful lifetime. Generating mountains of ewaste.
Why can't they get away with the next step, which is charging a subscription fee to use their mice as well?
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.
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
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.
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
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.