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"We underestimated the impact this would have upon the small number of our customers" Do they really believe it is a small number of customers that use non-Phi

"We underestimated the impact this would have upon the small number of our customers" Do they really believe it is a small number of customers that use non-Philips light bulbs? I mean, good for them in reversing the decision, but the damage is already done (check out Amazon reviews for one) and it should have been easily foreseen.

joezydeco 11y ago
Translation: "we'll do this to shut up the pro users that are generating all this bad P/R, and it really doesn't matter since 99.9% of our customers won't care about this anyway." Can't say I disagree with the idea. Everyone wants a system like this to be open on principle, but in reality it won't really get used that much. This stuff is still too hard for the average consumer.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  I dunno. I bought a Hue starter kit (hub+3 bulbs) and three more bulbs when I moved into my new house. I wanted something cool and "gadgety" to set up in the new place. They've generally been OK but I haven't bought any more bulbs since that first setup two years ago. This is mainly because the Hue bulbs are quite pricey and I've had a couple of them semi-fail (some colors in the spectrum stop working due to the blue LEDs crapping out). I've been keeping an eye out for compatible bulbs that are a bit more affordable since Hue prices haven't dropped at all and I'm more likely to drop $20-30 on a fancy bulb than another $60 when they can still fail. Granted, I've already got the hub so they have my money. Their risk is that I only buy third party bulbs instead of Hue bulbs from now on. Still, the next time I go to buy more lamps to expand my setup, if there are less expensive options that are reasonably equivalent, I'll buy them instead anyway. If Hue lamps become more affordable, I'll stick to first-party by default. But if Hues are still $60 each and some other platform starts selling good RGB LED bulbs for $15-25 each (and Hue has locked out third party bulbs), I'll just drop Hue in general and cut my losses.
  - jon-wood 11y ago
    I got a couple of the OSRAM RGB bulbs a while back, and while they're not quite as good as the Hue ones at half the price they were definitely the right choice. The only really issue I have is that their colours don't match the Hue ones, so it can be a bit hit and miss getting what you're looking for.
- izacus 11y ago
  And that's FINE - it just confirms that we don't need DRM and walled gardens for these things. If most users will still buy Phillips bulbs and some power users will be able to use other brand then everyone wins.
mathgeek 11y ago
You'll notice that gem on many press releases that concern a company apologizing or backtracking. It's usually done in order to downplay an issue and/or avoid making any statements that could be used against them in a lawsuit down the line. By saying it only affected a small number of users, they maintain plausible deniability that they knew how badly they screwed up.
spdustin 11y ago
I do, 100%, and there's no reason they wouldn't know this from metrics sent by their apps/bridge. Not a single Hue-using person I know, outside of HN, has any clue about ZigBee or interoperability or any of the stuff that a small fraction of Hue users care about. None of them. If it wasn't on the placard in Best Buy next to the bulbs, it wasn't even a passing thought. I am pleased they reversed their decision. I don't actually care about interoperability, even though I am a technically minded user deep into home automation and relevant protocols. But I still recognize the significance of a big company offering up a mea culpa when they get heat from a vocal group of customers. Not many have the courage to do so. Let's not diminish that they responded to customer backlash by manufacturing other reasons to hate them, or by generalizing. They actually did what the users wanted.

joezydeco 11y ago

Translation: "we'll do this to shut up the pro users that are generating all this bad P/R, and it really doesn't matter since 99.9% of our customers won't care about this anyway." Can't say I disagree with the idea. Everyone wants a system like this to be open on principle, but in reality it won't really get used that much. This stuff is still too hard for the average consumer.

soylentcola 11y ago
I dunno. I bought a Hue starter kit (hub+3 bulbs) and three more bulbs when I moved into my new house. I wanted something cool and "gadgety" to set up in the new place. They've generally been OK but I haven't bought any more bulbs since that first setup two years ago. This is mainly because the Hue bulbs are quite pricey and I've had a couple of them semi-fail (some colors in the spectrum stop working due to the blue LEDs crapping out). I've been keeping an eye out for compatible bulbs that are a bit more affordable since Hue prices haven't dropped at all and I'm more likely to drop $20-30 on a fancy bulb than another $60 when they can still fail. Granted, I've already got the hub so they have my money. Their risk is that I only buy third party bulbs instead of Hue bulbs from now on. Still, the next time I go to buy more lamps to expand my setup, if there are less expensive options that are reasonably equivalent, I'll buy them instead anyway. If Hue lamps become more affordable, I'll stick to first-party by default. But if Hues are still $60 each and some other platform starts selling good RGB LED bulbs for $15-25 each (and Hue has locked out third party bulbs), I'll just drop Hue in general and cut my losses.
- jon-wood 11y ago
  I got a couple of the OSRAM RGB bulbs a while back, and while they're not quite as good as the Hue ones at half the price they were definitely the right choice. The only really issue I have is that their colours don't match the Hue ones, so it can be a bit hit and miss getting what you're looking for.
izacus 11y ago
And that's FINE - it just confirms that we don't need DRM and walled gardens for these things. If most users will still buy Phillips bulbs and some power users will be able to use other brand then everyone wins.

mathgeek 11y ago

You'll notice that gem on many press releases that concern a company apologizing or backtracking. It's usually done in order to downplay an issue and/or avoid making any statements that could be used against them in a lawsuit down the line. By saying it only affected a small number of users, they maintain plausible deniability that they knew how badly they screwed up.

spdustin 11y ago

I do, 100%, and there's no reason they wouldn't know this from metrics sent by their apps/bridge. Not a single Hue-using person I know, outside of HN, has any clue about ZigBee or interoperability or any of the stuff that a small fraction of Hue users care about. None of them. If it wasn't on the placard in Best Buy next to the bulbs, it wasn't even a passing thought. I am pleased they reversed their decision. I don't actually care about interoperability, even though I am a technically minded user deep into home automation and relevant protocols. But I still recognize the significance of a big company offering up a mea culpa when they get heat from a vocal group of customers. Not many have the courage to do so. Let's not diminish that they responded to customer backlash by manufacturing other reasons to hate them, or by generalizing. They actually did what the users wanted.