7 ms·

ReMarkable closes funding at a $1B+ valuation after selling 1M devices

45 points by churchill 4y ago

ThrowawayR2 4y ago
Glad to hear that they're enjoying some growth and success but it's concerning to see them openly state their significant dependence on their subscription service as a revenue stream. That raises the possibility of less support in future firmware updates for allowing Remarkable 1/2 to operate as a standalone device sans cloud service.
- TuringNYC 4y ago
  One thing I wish companies would do is commit to open-sourcing the software in case of service shutdown or company bankruptcy. Then, at least we could hope that someone in the community either maintains it (or ideally even offers a commercial service with equivalent features.)
  - notreallyserio 4y ago
    It can be tricky if they don't have the rights to release source code or binaries for their hardware components, unfortunately.
- alwayslikethis 4y ago
  Agreed. I would never want to use a device that requires a proprietary cloud sync service. I own a Boox device, which are similar to the Remarkable ones, except it has a front light for reading. The software generally works fine. I don't use their sync service due to privacy concern though; I just use Syncthing.
RL_Quine 4y ago
Right, so that's why they added the truly awful subscription service.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
beambot 4y ago
I'm a long-time tablet proponent & user. I bought & received a ReMarkable2 about 3 weeks ago, and so far it's my favorite purchase in years.
- caleb-allen 4y ago
  I purchased the ReMarkable 2 a few months ago and I can maintain that it is the most useful computing device I've purchased since my first smartphone over a decade ago. It feels like "upgraded paper". There is a little clunk around the UX but honestly with the writing and reading experience it doesn't really matter. I placed an order yesterday for 50 spare "marker tips" just in case the company ever went under, but it seems like that worry may be misplaced! I'll likely be a long-time purchaser of ReMarkable products.
churchill 4y ago
The remarkable is hands down the best e-ink tablet on the market. For reading, writing, and syncing with my laptop - it does everything I want perfectly but their recent subscription play (a la SaaS) just doesn't sit well with me. I understand remarkable needs long-term revenue to sustain their vision but companies like Apple has proven you don't need a subscriptions nightmare to develop good hardware.

45 points by churchill 4y ago

Glad to hear that they're enjoying some growth and success but it's concerning to see them openly state their significant dependence on their subscription service as a revenue stream. That raises the possibility of less support in future firmware updates for allowing Remarkable 1/2 to operate as a standalone device sans cloud service.

TuringNYC 4y ago
One thing I wish companies would do is commit to open-sourcing the software in case of service shutdown or company bankruptcy. Then, at least we could hope that someone in the community either maintains it (or ideally even offers a commercial service with equivalent features.)
- notreallyserio 4y ago
  It can be tricky if they don't have the rights to release source code or binaries for their hardware components, unfortunately.
alwayslikethis 4y ago
Agreed. I would never want to use a device that requires a proprietary cloud sync service. I own a Boox device, which are similar to the Remarkable ones, except it has a front light for reading. The software generally works fine. I don't use their sync service due to privacy concern though; I just use Syncthing.

RL_Quine 4y ago

Right, so that's why they added the truly awful subscription service.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

beambot 4y ago

I'm a long-time tablet proponent & user. I bought & received a ReMarkable2 about 3 weeks ago, and so far it's my favorite purchase in years.

caleb-allen 4y ago
I purchased the ReMarkable 2 a few months ago and I can maintain that it is the most useful computing device I've purchased since my first smartphone over a decade ago. It feels like "upgraded paper". There is a little clunk around the UX but honestly with the writing and reading experience it doesn't really matter. I placed an order yesterday for 50 spare "marker tips" just in case the company ever went under, but it seems like that worry may be misplaced! I'll likely be a long-time purchaser of ReMarkable products.

churchill 4y ago

The remarkable is hands down the best e-ink tablet on the market. For reading, writing, and syncing with my laptop - it does everything I want perfectly but their recent subscription play (a la SaaS) just doesn't sit well with me. I understand remarkable needs long-term revenue to sustain their vision but companies like Apple has proven you don't need a subscriptions nightmare to develop good hardware.