Faber: The other day in Ireland, at our Innovation Center, one of our team members showed me a Forever mouse, comparing it to a watch. It’s a nice watch, not a super expensive watch, but I don’t plan on getting rid of that watch. So, if my mouse or keyboard is a quality, well-designed mouse with software support, why would I throw it away? A forever mouse is one of the goals we want to achieve.
Patel: What makes a mouse a mouse forever?
It’s a little heavy, it has great software and services, you can keep updating, and it’s beautiful. So I think we’re not far away from that goal.
But again, I come back to the cost issue. You sold me the mouse once. Maybe I’ll pay $200 for it.
The business model is obviously one of the challenges. So when you think about it, software becomes even more important. Can you suggest a service model? In our video conferencing business, this is now a very important part of the model, the service, and is critical for enterprise customers.
Let’s get back to that later because it makes sense to me. You sell hosting services to businesses. You can price support contracts for cameras, etc. This is an ongoing need for businesses. I’m still stuck with “You just sell me a mouse and it will have constant software updates forever.”
Think of it like your Rolex. You will love it.
But Rolex has to hire software engineers to send me over-the-air updates forever.
But this artifact is like your Rolex, and then given the technology that we know we attach to change, it’s not going to be like your Rolex because it doesn’t need to change forever. Our stuff must change, but must the hardware change? I am not sure. We obviously have to figure that out and figure out what the business model is. We’re not talking about a forever mouse today, but I’m intrigued by the idea.
This will certainly help with sustainability. Over time, two approaches to monetizing hardware have been traditionally proposed. This is the subscription fee and advertising. Is there a third approach you’re considering that I’m not aware of?
No, the third way is the traditional model of “we innovate and we let you upgrade.” This is the current model. We’re very good at this model because we have very good innovators around the company who are really launching great products.
This is definitely the model of today. It’s not a bad model at all, especially since we are continuing to design more sustainable products. We will continue to recycle and refurbish products. All of this is fine. But having said that, I’m interested in a forever mouse or a forever video conferencing solution where you just update it with software and create a business model around it.
I’m going to ask this question very directly. Can you imagine a subscription mouse?
Maybe.
That will be the mouse forever?
Yes.
Therefore, you will be required to pay a subscription fee for mouse software updates.
Yes, you never have to worry about that again, it’s no different than our video conferencing services today.
But it’s a mouse.
But it’s a rat, yes.
I think consumers may view them as very different.
[Laughs] Yes, but beautiful. Think of it as a rat studded with diamonds.
