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The average consumer would blame philips for even allowing the bulbs... people on HN or various other tech circles know better. But do you know who leaves revie

The average consumer would blame philips for even allowing the bulbs... people on HN or various other tech circles know better. But do you know who leaves reviews on Amazon and calls their customer support line? The average consumer. And most companies usually pay per call/minute to their customer care contractors.

mdip 11y ago
If by average consumer you are referring to "average purchaser of light bulbs", you are referring to a market that the Philips Hue products are not yet in. The average Philips Hue customer is an early adopter who was willing to spend a large amount of money on a next-generation lighting system. This customer is an early adopter. The question is not whether they should allow third-party bulbs, they already allowed third-party bulbs. The question is whether, after reaping the benefits of creating a product with compatibility built in, if it is a good business move to remove that feature via a software update. People flipped out when their paid-for Kindle copy of 1984 was removed from their e-reader due to legal issues that were out of Amazon's control. And those customers were refunded. They chose to break the lighting of their customers due to user experience issues.
- lightbritefight 11y ago
  Reminds me of the time Sony removed the "other OS" option from the PS3 that let you load Linux. A feature that had in use for years, and was a selling point for the more hardcore computer nerd. The stated reason they removed it was to prevent "evil hackers" from using it to remove DRM from their games. So three years after release, away it goes. That move got the hardware hackers attention, and the PS3 copy protection was cracked in 3 weeks. Hubris, meet Nemisis.
- supergeek133 11y ago
  And in their mind it might be a 'rip off the bandaid' move as it becomes more mainstream... these things are starting to be on endcaps in Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.
- comex 11y ago
  It's something of a tangent, but Amazon was not legally required to literally go out and delete books off of users' devices - or at least if they were, due to some contract they signed with publishers, that was their own fault. Indeed, after that event Amazon said they would no longer do so.
- CamperBob2 11y ago
  This point can't be overemphasized. People who are installing smart lighting in their homes are probably not idiots who are incapable of reading or understanding a simple compatibility warning. They are not going to blame Dell or Microsoft or Comcast or whoever Grandma calls when something doesn't work. They are well-off technically literate early adopters -- literally the last people in the world that Philips can afford to alienate if they want to be in this business. Every single comment that conflates Philips Hue users with the average barely-literate technophobe who blames random companies for everything that goes wrong with their computer is completely wrong.

mdip 11y ago

If by average consumer you are referring to "average purchaser of light bulbs", you are referring to a market that the Philips Hue products are not yet in. The average Philips Hue customer is an early adopter who was willing to spend a large amount of money on a next-generation lighting system. This customer is an early adopter. The question is not whether they should allow third-party bulbs, they already allowed third-party bulbs. The question is whether, after reaping the benefits of creating a product with compatibility built in, if it is a good business move to remove that feature via a software update. People flipped out when their paid-for Kindle copy of 1984 was removed from their e-reader due to legal issues that were out of Amazon's control. And those customers were refunded. They chose to break the lighting of their customers due to user experience issues.

lightbritefight 11y ago
Reminds me of the time Sony removed the "other OS" option from the PS3 that let you load Linux. A feature that had in use for years, and was a selling point for the more hardcore computer nerd. The stated reason they removed it was to prevent "evil hackers" from using it to remove DRM from their games. So three years after release, away it goes. That move got the hardware hackers attention, and the PS3 copy protection was cracked in 3 weeks. Hubris, meet Nemisis.
supergeek133 11y ago
And in their mind it might be a 'rip off the bandaid' move as it becomes more mainstream... these things are starting to be on endcaps in Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.
comex 11y ago
It's something of a tangent, but Amazon was not legally required to literally go out and delete books off of users' devices - or at least if they were, due to some contract they signed with publishers, that was their own fault. Indeed, after that event Amazon said they would no longer do so.
CamperBob2 11y ago
This point can't be overemphasized. People who are installing smart lighting in their homes are probably not idiots who are incapable of reading or understanding a simple compatibility warning. They are not going to blame Dell or Microsoft or Comcast or whoever Grandma calls when something doesn't work. They are well-off technically literate early adopters -- literally the last people in the world that Philips can afford to alienate if they want to be in this business. Every single comment that conflates Philips Hue users with the average barely-literate technophobe who blames random companies for everything that goes wrong with their computer is completely wrong.