Fair enough. One of my pet-peeves are statements that (sound like) dismissing attempts to be helpful as (what I hear as) something equivalent to "shut up and suck it up". I'm under no illusions that my advice is always the most wonderful thing you'll ever experience, so I'm open to criticism... But don't deal well with dismissal. So.... take my snark as more lighthearted response than what I really wanted to say at the time
I hereby grant permission to take your time in considering how best to implement my every piece of wisdom I bestow upon you
My apologies if my comment started to take this thread off the rails.
I think feedback from customers is valuable, and anyone’s opinion re: what they would personally like to see happen (or not happen) is valid, including whether they would be willing to pay for feature x or y.
But I find comments to the effect of, “you guys are screwed if you do this (or don’t do that)” to be largely a waste of everyone’s time.
Why? Because no one can predict the future, nor do we know how other customers will react to a proposed change in strategy for a company. And, as I said, we as customers are by definition in the dark when it comes to all the factors that led the company to make a decision.
Just my opinion. Take it with a grain (or mountain) of salt. Or just ignore it .
Sorry to necropost, but this seems the best place to address this, and given the change to Wink this week, I think some confirmation would be appreciated.
Is it fair to say that the Hubitat stance on included services / premium services remains consistent from what @bravenel said two years ago in early 2018?
I really hope hubitat introduces some subscription. I love free but free is not sustainable, if all you do is sell hardware, at a 1-time cost, the numbers do not really work out. So while I do really like 1 time purchases, I feel like no company can stay in business this way. Just my 2c. Plus I like hubitat, own 2 hubs and would gladly get some sort of subscription if it meant a few more years of the servers staying up.
They mentioned in one post (probably accidentally) that they are working on some licensed options for integrators/Pros.
I haven't heard any rumors of any consumer space license/subscription offerings from Hubitat, though. I am all for it - if it is a value add. Not for it at all for existing capability.
While we've all voiced our input on how HE should run their business (me included) and I'm sure the HE team welcomes ideas (I know I sometimes think to myself when my customers tell me how to run things "just shut up already" but occasionally they have some amazing ideas I'd have never thought of!) -- there are MANY MANY MANY companies that just sell hardware without subscriptions. When was I last time you paid a monthly fee for a drill or a washing machine? "Planned obsolescence" is the key to the game for CE sales. When HE releases a new hub with some exciting new feature, X% of their current customers by the new hub + an additional Y new customers. They do that every 2-3 years and boom.
I've never given Apple a dime in subscription sales. I don't subscribe to Apple Music, I don't pay for iCloud, I don't pay for AppleCare... yet Apple gets me to buy a new iPhone and Apple Watch every 2-3 years when a new one comes out with some compelling feature. I really don't want to go through my receipts and see how much money I've paid Apple over the years for new hardware, I'd probably feel sick if I summed it all up...
This exactly. I think it’s a matter of capturing the customers, developing the apps for pro installers, and fixing the existing bugs. I also think we will see a new hub soon.
A washing machine is hundreds of dollars, do you think a niche product selling for 80-120 dollars is sustainable? I can see how markup and mass sales help a washer but I would think these are different classes as well as markets...just my 2c
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