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Logitech CEO Wants to Sell You a Subscription-Based 'Forever Mouse'

During a recent episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber shed some possible insight into the company’s view on one of its most important products. Saying that “the mouse built this house,” Faber shares the planning behind a Forever Mouse, a premium product that the company hopes will be the last you ever have to buy. There’s also a discussion about a subscription-based service and a deeper focus on AI.

For now, details on a Forever Mouse are thin, but you better believe there will be a catch. The Instant Pot was a product so good that customers rarely needed to buy another one. The company went bankrupt.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

premium mouse that receives constant updates

Come on. How many firmware updates can we really expect for a mouse?

I’ve had an m570 for about 10 years. Every time it broke, I fixed it. Why do we need a subscription?

SatansMaggotyCumFart ,

So Logitech can bill every one of its customers every month.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

No sale. It’s ridiculous.

grue ,

No sale.

Joke’s on you; they’re into that shit. Their techno-feudalist wet dream is to force you into rentals for everything.

ASDraptor ,

This is not about you, but about them. It’s not that you need a subscription. It’s that they need you to have a subscription.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

But they need to convince me that the subscription is worthwhile!

kubica ,

If you are going to ask questions maybe you are not the target demographic.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Damned straight! I’ll stick with my boring old non-ai grandpa mouse.

meco03211 ,

Back in my day the mice had a tail, no scroll wheel, and only 2 buttons!

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

When I were a lad, we used vi.

Morphit ,
@Morphit@feddit.uk avatar

Back in my day, mice had balls.

Imgonnatrythis ,

We used trackballs and loved them. We greased the mechanism with our forehead sweat as was the fashion at the time.

partial_accumen ,

But they need to convince me that the subscription is worthwhile!

They’ll remove any mice from the market that doesn’t have a subscription model and others will follow suit.

Future mouse DLC: “Special promotion! $5 discount on unlocking right mouse button!”

TheEighthDoctor ,

They’ll remove any mice from the market that doesn’t have a subscription model and others will follow suit.

Good luck with removing aliexpress mice from the market

BearOfaTime ,

Damn, I never thought to look there! Thanks!

AbidanYre ,

I doubt the open source options will be adopting this strategy either.

I have a ploopy trackball and love it.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

How does it compare to the m570?

AbidanYre , (edited )

I use a left handed one, so I can’t really comment on most ergonomic computer accessories.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

They look nice, but quite expensive.

BeardedBlaze ,
@BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world avatar

If they only had a thumb trackball…

AbidanYre ,

Like this?

BeardedBlaze , (edited )
@BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world avatar

Dang phone, not sure hire I missed it. Thanks! Although oof on the price… Another poster mentioned elecom, they have a quite the variety of thumb trackballs, think I’ll buy few of those for the price of one ploopy: elecomusa.com/collections/trackball

AbidanYre ,

True, they are expensive. But it’s one of the very few left-handed, ergonomic mice/trackballs I’ve ever found.

floofloof ,

Not if they and their competitors remove all the other options.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Nah. There will always be companies just selling a mouse.

Morphit ,
@Morphit@feddit.uk avatar

You wouldn’t print a mouse.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Hell yeah!

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Are they bluetooth?

Nougat ,

I used an HP dead stock "this ships with every computer we sell" optical mouse for twenty years before it broke.

BearOfaTime ,

All my mice are similar ages, even my Logitech wireless.

I did just have a 15 year old one die, but it got used about 8 hours a day all that time.

TimeSquirrel ,
@TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org avatar

How many firmware updates can we really expect for a mouse?

Almost none, why the hell would a mouse ever need firmware updates except to fix fuckups? It has one job, translate clicks and movements into signals for the computer.

Wrench , (edited )

This from a company who refused to update their drivers for a USB speaker system for 7, even though it was still actively being sold at stores.

I had bought it a few months earlier at a Fry’s, on sale. I think the sku was just about 2 years old, just expiring on their support policy, as a new OS dropped.

Their customer support told to me kick sand.

Fuck Logitech. Their Mice are the only thing I’ve continued to use because they are actually reliable. But now they’re trying to enshitify that behind a subscription, so that’s it.

skyspydude1 ,

Instant Pot was a product so good that customers rarely needed to buy another one. The company went bankrupt.

Bull-fucking-shit. That’s just not how any of this works.

There are plenty of companies that make appliances that last a long fucking time, and don’t have to rely on fucking DLC micro transaction AI bullshit. The reason Instant Pot went bankrupt is the same reason a ton of popular companies have recently had issues: They got bought by private equity (who also owned Pyrex and fucked them over), saddled with a shitton of bad debt, squeezed of every bit of brand value they had, and then left to fall apart as the PE firm made off with millions.

The fact that the writer correlated “quality, durable good” with “unsuccessful business and bankruptcy” is absolutely one of the worst takes, and really shows just how pervasive this disgusting idea of “must be disposable to be profitable” really is.

TheReturnOfPEB , (edited )

Thank you for typing this up because I was not capable of doing it because vitriol messes up my WPM.

Cethin , (edited )

Partially true, but also they wouldn’t invest in something that lasts forever (without it costing an absurd amount of money or the subscription requirement). I like this video that shows the issue pretty well. (TLDW: Communist Germany made glass so durable it didn’t break as a product to sell to the west. No company would purchase it though because they made most of their profit from selling replacements. The glass is now what we call Gorilla Glass, which is really only available on phones, which are designed to be replaced every few years anyway.)

stefenauris ,
@stefenauris@pawb.social avatar

Businesses could save a lot of money by just firing their CEOs

NegativeInf ,

If anyone’s job could be replaced with ChatGPT, it’s these chucklefucks.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

And now I no longer wish to buy Logitech products…

wolfshadowheart ,

I no longer wished to use Logitech products after using G-Hub. Most horrible software.

hedgehogging_the_bed ,

Logitech’s desire to put AI in my IO devices is exactly why I am moving to a different manufacturer. I want solid hardware, not hardware as a service. HP also is trying this with printers and it’s total bullshit.

If I am paying a monthly fee, I’d better not also have to buy garbage hardware. That better be provided for free and replaced when it inevitably fails.

stealth_cookies ,

Logitech pissed me off years ago when they didn’t honour a warranty because I bought a flawed product before they extended the warranty on them.

I have not even been tempted by their products because there are so many other peripheral manufacturers out there that put out great products.

almost1337 ,

The Instant Pot was a product so good that customers rarely needed to buy another one. The company went bankrupt.

Man, we had to replace the fuse on ours four times before we gave up on it; I don’t think ‘product longevity’ was a major factor in the brand’s downfall. It also did a shit job of cooking rice.

I also highly doubt Logitech’s ability to make a “forever” mouse with how many I’ve had to RMA due to faulty left click switches. Get your product design, supply chain, and QA in order before you start trying to tie people down with wholly unnecessary and unwanted subscriptions. Shitty ent seeking MBA vampires fucking everything up for everyone.

CaptDust ,

Oh see I didn’t interpret the forever mouse as a single product, more likely they’d like to use even cheaper switches and components and make RMA/replacement normal under the subscription. New mouse every year for just $14.99/month - what a deal! Right, guys? Guys?

circuscritic ,

Instant Pot didn’t simply go bankrupt. It was busted out by private equity.

doxxx ,
@doxxx@lemmy.ca avatar

The Instant Pot is actually great at cooking rice using the pot-in-pot method: put a plain metal bowl with your rice and water (usually 1:1 ratio) in the Instant Pot on a wire rack and add about 1 1/2 cups of water to the Instant Pot. Steam for 10 minutes for white rice. Perfect every time.

almost1337 ,

We just got a rice cooker instead

Kekzkrieger ,

Another proof ceo’s that most of those cunts in charge either got there by winning the birth lottery or bullshitted their way up and are complete clueless idiots. Any sane person with an idea of what they are doing knows its all bullshit.

pachrist ,

I hate this approach to business.

Coupling subscriptions with forced obscolecence is a nightmare. If HP made the best printer money could buy, using it with a subscription model would be a hard sell. But they make shit printers that die at the drop of a hat, so coupling them with a subscription is asinine.

Logitech makes a decent mouse, passable webcams, and shit keyboards.

Just in case anyone from Logitech ever reads this, I own 2 MX Verticals, an MX Ergo, and an MX Master 2S. I love them all, but I’d rather use an OEM bog standard Dell mouse than pay for a subscription.

douglasg14b ,
@douglasg14b@lemmy.world avatar

They don’t even make good mice technically because of planned obsolescence.

Their switches die, intentionally, long before the life time of any other components on their mice. And have for nearly 10 years now.

calcopiritus ,

They way I got introduced to hardware as a service is that it was a solution to planned obsolescence.

In theory, a hardware subscription means that if you pay for X months of that hardware, you gonna get it. Doesn’t matter if it breaks, it should be replaced while your subscription lasts.

So taking that into account, the less the hardware breaks, the more profit they have. So not only should it eliminate planned obsolescence, it would make engineering for durable products an actually very profitable business.

Masamune ,

So, what is the difference between this approach and just selling an extended warranty?

Xenny ,

The Logitech k120 is a worthy warrior. Id never get an expensive keyboard from them though

EvilBit ,

The answer to this is simple. Go private. Get a buyout and delist so you aren’t literally required to permanently and constantly grow your company bigger and sell more than you did last year for the rest of eternity in the name of the almighty shareholders.

Sell great hardware to people who need it, develop a loyal fan base, and treat them right, forever. I guarantee that the rate of valid, reasonable purchases of high-quality, durable new mice and keyboards is more than enough to sustain a very healthy company full of very talented employees forever, as long as they aren’t required to always make more money than ever before.

BearOfaTime ,

Welp, looks like I just bought my last Logitech mouse. I’ve sworn by them for over 20 years.

Nope, fuck you Logitech.

solsangraal ,

same. every logitech peripheral i’ve ever had was great, and the one time an old mouse i’d been using for 2 years broke, i emailed them about it and they sent me a MX master 2S, which was several tiers above the one i had, for free.

oh well. time to find a new mouse brand

traches ,

Their flight sim stuff is absolute fucking garbage

homesweethomeMrL ,

Bite my shiny metal PS/2 adapter

FartsWithAnAccent ,
@FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io avatar

Fuck that, no thanks! How about you build repairable mice that can last forever instead?

rImITywR ,

With open source firmware. Preferably QMK + VIA.

lemmyng ,
@lemmyng@lemmy.ca avatar

User-serviceable switches would be so nice…

cygnus ,
@cygnus@lemmy.ca avatar

Meh, I’m going to hold out for a subscription-based AI-enabled mousepad.

nobleshift ,
@nobleshift@lemmy.world avatar

With OneDrive …

InternetUser2012 ,

Hard pass.

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

Since we’re pretty much all in agreement that Logitech has enshittified with the Great Ones like Ubisoft, Hewlett Packard, and more, let’s talk about our last great products they made that we will no longer recommend! 😃

These are all my products that I love, and have been extremely high quality. All of them work just fine to this day!

  • Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum mice (I own two, bought in 2018 I believe and still using)
  • Logitech C920 1080p 30 FPS webcam
  • Logitech G613 Lightspeed Wireless keyboard (great keyboard I use for work, hate that the keys are painted and will eventually wear away)
  • Logitech G603 Wireless Mouse (for work, works fantastic!)
  • Logitech Litra Beam LED lights (I own two)

Oh Logitech. Why can’t you just make products we can own instead of following the greedy “As a Service”? Ah well! Bound to happen one day (Steam, please please don’t ever become public).

Restaldt ,

The aggressive enshittification of everything is why I’ve started downloading games from gog instead of steam.

Its why i have a jellyfin server.

Now its why ill have to find a new favorite mouse to use and have multiple backups of (once my g502 wireless and the backup finally die)

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

Hello fellow GOG fan! I own 620 games on GOG, and I license 214 games on Steam. Granted some of those Steam games do not have DRM, so consider that an estimate.

Man you sound almost exactly like me lol. A lot of angry persons who have been burned by companies are becoming like us. What sent me over the edge was when Ubisoft threatened to shutdown their legacy activation servers, which would have led to me losing the DLC I purchased for my physical Wii U copy of Splinter Cell Blacklist. They backpedaled after significant fan backlash, but now I’ve been radicalized. I avoid “as a service” to the best of my ability and am deliberately hostile to these corporations.

floofloof ,

I use their webcams and I’m not very impressed with the results. They haven’t updated the technology in a decade or more.

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

That’s a fair point. It’s interesting because this month I was considering upgrading my webcam to a 1080p 60fps one and certainly was going to consider them. I probably would have lightly researched a new Logi webcam and then bought it considering their track record and how wonderful my products have been.

I want to give companies my money in exchange for good products, but it’s weird! My morals won’t let me for some reason. It’s like I don’t agree with Logitech or something! Oh well! I’ll keep my money in my pocket and save it for a better product that doesn’t treat their customers like cattle.

barsquid ,

It’s such a pain to find things. Would be nice to just have a list of products that work decently without subscriptions or printer ink economy bullshit.

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

When enough people are burned, that list will arise spontaneously. I’m sure there are some that are out there, but they probably are not well-known yet.

For example in the privacy community, Privacy Guides is one of the golden sources. I expect we’ll see something soon for products that avoid enshittification.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

If you don’t mind spending money on a good product, the Insta360 Link is a fantastic webcam. It has a 3-axis gimbal which lets you pan, tilt, and rotate. It has an AI feature that’s actually useful - it can follow you as you move around.

Their control software only works on Windows and MacOS but I’m working on something similar for Linux.

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

I bought half a dozen G502’s when I found out they were changing them many years ago, and I’ve only opened 1 of them. Pretty sure I’m good for life at this point.

I like the M705 for my work PC. Wireless and the batteries literally last for years. They do eventually die to the ‘double click of death’ so no points for longevity of hardware.

Also have a G13 that I like. Never found a better gaming half-keyboard but they stopped making them a long time ago.

Smokeless7048 ,

did you ever watch the youtube ‘deepdive’ into the double click?

Turns out they are using an older switch which, while great at the time, wants a higher voltage than modern, electricity diet, mice.

youtu.be/v5BhECVlKJA

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

I have not but I’ll check it out later. Thanks!

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

Dude, the G502 is such a great mouse. Mine has lived through so many years of gaming and is still chugging!

If you get ~7 years of life out of the M705, I would consider that to be quality since it would last through thousands of hours of usage. Any less and I would consider it a dud product, but that is certainly my opinion only there.

Never heard of the G13 before, so I looked it up and I think that’s pretty cool! This would have been a product I would have to try to see if it would fit my use case for gaming. A mini keyboard with a joystick seems cool, and admittedly I’m hovering my left hand in the air and trying to mimick what that would be like. Hard to conceptualize without actually trying it! I hope you got good use out of it, it does seem really cool.

If Logitech didn’t enshittify, they should’ve made their own version of the Power Glove. 😀 The Power Glove was way before my time on Earth, but man that would’ve been cool to see for PC.

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

I have never found anything as nice for my hand as the G502, and it has the perfect amount of buttons. That’s why I had to stock up!

The G13 got really popular AFTER Logitech discontinued it, because there really hasn’t been anything like it on the market. I went looking to stock up on those too, but I was too late - they will go for a couple hundred bucks or more, used, when you can find one!

CatZoomies , (edited )
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

Such a shame too because I always recommended the G502. I love the feel, the ergonomics, and the button placement. I love the customizeable weights you can swap in. I used to play with all the weights, but then over the years I took them all out and now use none. My aim got better in FPS games - I went from steaming hot garbage to just regular garbage LOL.

I’m going to watch a couple review videos of the G13 to see if it’s up my alley. And if yes, I’ll add that bad boy to my watch lists and pick up a used one if I can score it for a decent price.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

They do eventually die to the ‘double click of death’ so no points for longevity of hardware.

Interesting… I’ve had one for 10 years, use it nearly daily, and haven’t had any issues.

Smokeless7048 ,

I have a Logitech G710+. After years (like 8) of use, the keycaps were starting to crack with age. I reached out to Logitech and they sent me all new keycaps, free of charge, despite being several times past the warranty period.

Truly amazing customer service.

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

That’s quality right there. You probably would have bought those key caps, but they just sent them to you for free. That’s going above and beyond, and that’s how you keep a customer. Noctua is all about that, and I’ll continue to buy their products and recommend them.

Such a shame, Logitech. You were great but now you’re turning into crap.

Smokeless7048 ,

yea, would have happily paid for keycaps, since i was so far past any kind of warrenty.

Ended up buying some nicer, PBT kecaps 4 years after that anyways. Still use this keyboard, even if part of the backlighting has failed in the… 12 years.

i.imgur.com/anIU1RQ.jpeg

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

That’s a good looking keyboard right there mate.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

Nice keycaps! Can you please provide link to them? Thinking of getting some fancy ones myself.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

Same with me! I bought that keyboard because at the time it was the cheapest mechanical keyboard I could find that wasn’t an Aliexpress special, and it’s still working well for me.

The keycaps for that keyboard have a known design issue - the plastic part that connects it to the key is too thin and breaks easily - which is why I think they’re willing to send out free replacements.

Brkdncr ,

My previous logi mouse lasted for a decade before giving up.

My current MX mouse lasted almost 3 years before the rubber started separating from the case at the palm area.

I don’t know if I will buy another logi mouse.

CatZoomies ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

I hear you dude. That 10+ year reputation is what drove me to buy their stuff, along with all the glowing user recommendations.

I heard that you can make the rubber last longer on mice by periodically cleaning them to slow their chance of breaking down, but I never experienced the rubber actually separating. That happened to my spouse’s Razer mouse (heh, that rhymes).

But I suppose that, apart from this whole post’s focus on “as a service”, that possibly Logi products have begun to go downhill quite recently. I wouldn’t know, all of mine have been great. Sucks for your MX mouse, but I feel you on the uncertainty of buying future Logi mice.

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