Is the world ready for a subscription model when it comes to something that many of us use every day? Logitech thinks so, as they have worked on a “forever mouse” which could require a subscription fee to receive regular software updates.
Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber, during a recent appearance on The Verge‘s Decoder podcast with Nilay Patel, daid his company has no plans to release such a product at the present time. However, the Logitech innovation center team in Ireland did show Faber a “forever mouse,” designed to be used for many years. The mouse is a “little heavier” than a standard mouse and it has “great software and services” that get constantly updated.
The other day, in Ireland, in our innovation center there, 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. 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.
Like any corporation these days, Logitech is looking for steady income streams, and Faber sees a day when the world will embrace a “subscription mouse.” Being that a mouse is a one-time purchase, which is likely used for several years, Logitech could ensure an income stream from the device by funding software updates through some kind of service model.
We’re continuing to recycle and refurbish products. All of that is good. But that said, I am intrigued by a forever mouse or forever video conferencing solution that you just update with software and create a business model around that.
Faber said that there could also be a program offered where customers trade in their old mouse for a newer version, similar to what Apple does with its iPhone Upgrade Program.
The forever mouse, and the forever mouse could be the mouse that you keep and we just send you software updates, but it could also be the mouse that you turn in at Best Buy and we get it back or Best Buy takes it back and refurbs and resells it, which is another business model. We’re starting to do that but not yet at the scale that we need to.
Faber noted that customers spend approximately $26 on a mouse or keyboard on average, which she says is “really so low” for “stuff you use every day.” She said there’s “so much room to create more value in that space as we make people more productive.”