6 ms·
There would have been engineering cost to designing a better lock. Also, that's not their product concept. These are not locks for people who care about securit
by public_defender 4y ago
There would have been engineering cost to designing a better lock. Also, that's not their product concept. These are not locks for people who care about security, they are for people who care about iphone ecosystem synergy.
If you look at it a certain way, this isn't really a defect: when this lock gets bricked by a firmware update or recruited into a botnet, you won't be trapped on your porch for too long before your neighbor's kid can let you in.
But also, full agree on "our goal is to be better than an open window." I hope they don't extend a job offer to that marketing intern.
- davidbanham 4y agoNo, better locks are already invented and will fit that standardised barrel just fine. This is either someone minmaxing the BOM or just not knowing much about what they were specifying.
- public_defender 4y agoYes, this is more accurate. They would need to spend fractionally more on the tumbler, which I really think they have no incentive to do because the target customer will not know or care about the physical security upgrade.
- epmaybe 4y agoThe incentive is not being ridiculed and belittled and being taken through the media circuit for a minor loss in profit margin? But then again, all press is good press
- ceejayoz 4y ago> There would have been engineering cost to designing a better lock. And a reputation cost for not.
- edmundsauto 4y agoAnd a marketing benefit from the controversy.
- azinman2 4y agoAnd the opposite. I had seen this and was waiting to buy one when brass is available. Now I’m going to pass. If they can’t take very basic measures then I don’t want it as a product. It tells me a lot about their process.
- dwaite 4y agoLevel is an existing smart lock manufacturer and has several non-Apple-specific models which are on the market. I would assume they didn't go find a cylinder with zero pick resistance just for their newest and most expensive model. The presence of an Apple specific model at a higher cost (adding NFC for HomeKey entry, which works even if your phone/watch battery is dead) caused it to get pushed onto the LPL's radar.
- wl 4y ago> There would have been engineering cost to designing a better lock. Putting security pins in there wouldn't have involved any engineering at all.