How does a computer mouse you only have to pay for once sound? If it sounds entirely ordinary, you clearly aren’t the target market for Logitech’s CEO’s latest idea – a “forever mouse” that’ll have you paying a subscription for lifelong updates via a subscription-based model. Yeah. We wish we were making that up.
A worrying precedent
Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s CEO who was appointed back to the position in October, spoke with The Verge on its Decoder podcast, likening the idea for a “forever mouse” to buying and owning a “super expensive” watch.
“… I’m not planning to throw that watch away ever. So why would I be throwing my mouse or my keyboard away if it’s a fantastic-quality, well-designed, software-enabled mouse? The forever mouse is one of the things that we’d like to get to.”
The thing is; we don’t plan to get rid of our “fantastic quality, well-designed” mouse anytime soon, regardless of its ability to pump out updates every other month. We’ve already spent a hefty chunk of our salary to get Logitech’s brand on our desk, and aren’t all that keen on seeing updates beyond the features out-of-the-box.
When asked what made it a “forever mouse”, aside from the subscription fee, Faber noted that it “was a little heavier” and that it “was beautiful”. If that isn’t enough to get you hooked, we’re not sure what will.
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It’s worth mentioning that Faber hasn’t committed to the idea wholly, despite mentioning that the ‘forever mouse’ wasn’t all that far away from fruition. First, Logitech needs to sort out pricing for the initial purchase and ongoing subscription fee. A $200 (R3,600) cost was thrown out in the conversation, and Faber didn’t challenge the notion.
An actual baseline for what customers could expect from the subscription in terms of updates or their frequency and an eventual cost wasn’t mentioned. Nor what might happen should a customer nix their subscription fee.
We imagine that sa hardware repair service would be baked right into the subscription fee, especially if Logitech is serious about the mouse’s longevity. An over-the-air update won’t cut it when a button goes astray or something similar. But that’s just our idea. Whether Logitech will see it as a threat to the bottom line…
