So it sounds like they did have plans, or at least ideas, for it but are now backtracking after the 100% deserved backlash.
Yep, that's what I like to call a soft release
Trial balloon.
This one happened to be made of lead.
every company brainstorms at some point and come up with a few good and a lot of bad ideas;
it doesn't make it any closer to being a reality, the only difference is that this was made public.
This idea is so bad it should not have even been brought up
We have subscription services in cars now.
I'm betting it'll happen either way.
It's a fucking stupid future.
They were running it by to see if the host will accept the parasite. They will be back folks
The new CEO had the beginning of an idea in an interview. The interviewer tried to push back while still keeping the interview going, but it became messy real quick.
If that's the new CEO's first idea, good luck, Logitech.
Patel: I’m going to ask this very directly. Can you envision a subscription mouse?
Faber: Possibly.
It was so bad Nilay Patel had to apologize (semi-seriously) about causing a news cycle about a mouse.
Same thing happened earlier this year with Wendy’s new CEO. His brilliant plan to make a name for himself was rolling out dynamic pricing. After days of well deserved backlash Wendy’s had to come out and walk it back while insisting they had never planned to use this to do lunch/dinner surge pricing.
No plans now.
Let's just float the idea again in a few years and see how much backlash it then produces...
Or just slowly start rolling out and hope no one notices
Release it as an option with the necessary hardware.
Start with a comically low sub price and seemingly great features.
Hook the user base.
Phase out all non-sub options.
Compete enshittification.
Jack up price.
CEO bails under a golden parachute.
CEO: says stupid shit
Corporate Comms: sigh CLEANUP ON AISLE 3
Ah yes, the ol' "joking about a threesome" trick.
"What?! Oh, no I mean... I was just joking, honey. I'd never do that... I mean unless..."
That always reeks of so much insecurity to me. Just own up to it. If you are in a relationship, “sure, I would do a threesome, but only if you actively want it too and we both agreed on the person and what was allowed or forbidden”. Not in a relationship, “Sure, I would be down for a threesome as long as the desires and limits of all people involved are discussed before hand and accepted by all”. There, with that attitude there's less risk of confusion or misunderstanding.
Not sure why you're getting down votes because this is the way. If you want something, be open and ask for consent. Just be okay with people saying no, too, and you're good
Logitech, buy one of the three tiers based on your needs. 10 clicks a day, 15 clicks a day, or unlimited daily click.
Disclaimer: right click or scroll wheel not included, please purchase add-on package
Logitech mice always get better with age, they give you extra clicks for free with each touch of the button!
Double your Dota APM with this one weird double click!
Vim users laughing that they can get by on the cheapest tier.
Yeah... Now that everyone found out about the idea and said "fuck Logitech." lol
If there was no reaction or a positive reaction to it they would definitely be planning on releasing one.
I am so fucking tired of this era of rampant consumer abuse. So. Fucking. Tired.
They test us and test us and test us until we are so exhausted that one of their bullshit tests goes through and becomes an industry standard and now everyone except a tiny handful of ridiculously rich people are slightly worse off.
Repeat ad enshittificatum.
I mean everyone knows that the answer to whether they'd live to do this is "yes", but you don't have to guess. They pretty much say 'yes we're planning it' in PR doublespeak:
Logitech’s stance is “the mouse mentioned is not an actual or planned product but a peek into provocative internal thinking on future possibilities for more sustainable consumer electronics.”
So... They're not planning to make it but they're investigating the market possibility of selling it? Golly PRtalk is rough.
Luckily the CEO comes in hot again for us. Besides comparing the Morse to a Rolex he has this to say:
I’m going to ask this very directly. Can you envision a subscription mouse?
Possibly.
And that would be the forever mouse?
Yeah.
So you pay a subscription for software updates to your mouse.
Yeah, and you never have to worry about it again, which is not unlike our video conferencing services today.
But it’s a mouse.
But it’s a mouse, yeah.
I think consumers might perceive those to be very different.
[Laughs] Yes, but it’s gorgeous. Think about it like a diamond-encrusted mouse.
Diamond crusted to who?
SaaS occasionally makes sense but I'm overall against it. Hardware SaaS has been dumb as fuck since AMD tried to charge us extra to unlock cores we already had on the chip and like 6 seconds until we fished out how to get around it.
think about it like a diamond crusted mouse
Yeah bit it's not... And it's a piece of shit hardware that will cost youaybe 5-10 bucks to produce and you'll soon enough rent it out for 5 bucks per month.
Fuck. You.
I mean, they 100% do have tangible plans. And I'm 110% sure that active portions of those plans already underway as well.
I think what they mean to say is, "the subscription mouse isn't available today... I mean, unless you like, unless you wanted it to be or whatever? uWu..."
Yeah they don't have any plans now. After getting shouted at by everyone.
This is just a symptom of the corporate insanity that believes that every year you must make more money than the previous year and simply making a large amount of money isn't acceptable unless it's going upwards.
It's Logitech, they make keyboards and mice they're not high value items. There's no innovating that needs to happen here. I'm sure companies that manufacture staples, drawing pins, and paper clips could give them some pointers in calming down and just existing.
one of our team members showed me a forever mouse with the comparison to a watch. This is a nice watch, not a super expensive watch, but I’m not planning to throw that watch away ever.
Then, almost immediately starts talking about Rolex watches as if they are not expensive. This woman is very out of touch with reality like all CEOs.
But won't rule it out.
Imagine it’s like your Rolex. You’re going to really love that.
The fact he said this, makes you want to punch his smug face.
That something so ridiculous is within the realm of possibility just shows how absurd the subscription landscape has gotten. It's sad that they even have to clarify this.
Feeling cute, might boycott them anyways :)
What they want to sell:
A mouse with the quality of the mice 20 years ago. And you need to subscribe to software updates. However the subscription is not optional. If you don't pay monthly you can't use the mouse.
What I would actually pay for:
A high quality mouse with an open interface and maybe open source software for it. So I can maintain the software by myself. Usually you can achieve a high quality standard in a few months, and unless there are some driver issues, it should work forever.
I have a "gamer mouse" with a lot of features, custom dpi settings, custom color settings, rebinding keys and so on.
However I used the software once to set it up and on Linux I can't even change it. I will never receive any updates!
Quality of the mouse of 20 years ago? Are were going to need the cook the eggs extra long to replace the mouse balls again?
We'd already switched to optical mice in 2004.
Which was only 10 years ago.
You might want to check that again.
Shhh yes, yes it's 2014. Obama just made it so we can unlock our phones legally. You are playing Skyrim for (only) the 4th time. Covid sounds like a bad name for a youtube podcast. The jenga tower of your game mods crashes down. You grunt... Did you save recently?
What sane people will buy: hey this one's good enough, plus it's on sale for $10!
"no plans" We're just awfully close and intend to make plans. Fucking hate when CEOs talk, can't believe anything at face value. Lying sacks of shit.
Good because the entire idea is completely idiotic.
NOW they don't because word got out too soon
"Ahahaha. I was kidding. ..unless..?"
Sort of like how excited Wendy's was to offer surge pricing, until 2 days later when they suddenly had "no plans to ever implement surge pricing, what're yall talkin' 'bout?"
I highly recommend the Decoder podcast from The Verge. The host Nilay Patel interviews the Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber and this comes up. He comes at the question earnestly but can't understand how she tries to justify this. It's a pretty fun listen. Link: https://www.theverge.com/24206847/logitech-ceo-hanneke-faber-mouse-keyboard-gaming-decoder-podcast-interview
The transcript is there too if you just want to read it. Here's some of the relavent bits.
What made the mouse a forever mouse?
It was a little heavier, it had great software and services that you’d constantly update, and it was beautiful. So I don’t think we’re necessarily super far away from that.
But, again, I just come back to the cost. You sell me the mouse once. Maybe I’ll pay 200 bucks for it.
The business model obviously is the challenge there. So then software is even more important when you think about it. Can you come up with a service model? In our video conferencing business, that is now a very important part of the model, the services, and it’s critical for corporate customers.
Let’s come to that in a second because that makes sense to me. You sell managed services to enterprises. You price support contracts for cameras and whatever. That’s an ongoing need businesses have. I’m still stuck on, “You’re going to sell me a mouse once and it’s going to have ongoing software updates forever.”
Imagine it’s like your Rolex. You’re going to really love that.
But Rolex has to employ software engineers to ship me over-the-air updates forever.
But the artifact is like your Rolex, and then given that we know the technology that we attach to changes, it’s not going to be like your Rolex in that it doesn’t have to ever change. Our stuff will have to change, but does the hardware have to change? I’m not so sure. We’ll have to obviously fix it and figure out what that business model is. We’re not at the forever mouse today, but I’m intrigued by the thought.>
....
I’m going to ask this very directly. Can you envision a subscription mouse?
Possibly.
And that would be the forever mouse?
Yeah.
So you pay a subscription for software updates to your mouse.
Yeah, and you never have to worry about it again, which is not unlike our video conferencing services today.
But it’s a mouse.
But it’s a mouse, yeah.
I think consumers might perceive those to be very different.
[Laughs] Yes, but it’s gorgeous. Think about it like a diamond-encrusted mouse.
The problem is that companies talk to two sets of people and they both want to hear different things.
Users, who want to hear that they're making a new mouse that costs $5 and lasts forever and gives you a blowjob, and shareholders, who want a $50 a month subscription mouse that harvests the users organs while they're at it.
And it's the CEO's job to keep both of those people just unhappy enough to stick around.
This is no less, than a gaslighting tactic
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