Logitech’s “forever” mouse will never come true

Faber: I was at the Innovation Center in Ireland the other day and one of our team members showed me the Forever Mouse and compared it to a watch. It’s a nice watch, and it’s not a super expensive watch, but I’m not going to throw it away. With a great quality, well-designed, software-enabled mouse, there’s no reason to throw away your mouse or keyboard. The Forever Mouse is one of those things we want to achieve.

PATEL: What makes a mouse a mouse forever?

It was a little bit heavy, but it had great software and services, it was constantly updated, and it was beautiful, so I don’t think we’re necessarily that far off.

But again, it comes back to the issue of cost: I might pay $200 for a mouse if you sell it to me once.

The business model is obviously a challenge. So the software becomes even more important in that respect. Can you come up with a service model? In our video conferencing business, service is a very important part of the model and it’s very important for our enterprise customers.

I’ll get to that in a second. It seems to me like it makes sense. We sell managed services to businesses. We price support contracts for cameras and things like that, which are things that businesses will always need. I’m still stuck in the mindset of “sell a mouse once, software updates will continue forever.”

Imagine it like your Rolex, you’ll love it.

But Rolex would have to hire software engineers to provide over-the-air updates on a permanent basis.

But artifacts are like Rolexes, and we know the technology we put on them is going to change, so that doesn’t mean they don’t have to change like Rolexes do. Our stuff has to change, but does the hardware have to change? I’m not sure. We’re obviously going to have to revise and figure out what that business model is. I’m not talking about the Forever Mouse today, but I’m intrigued by the idea.

That certainly helps with sustainability. There are two ways that have traditionally been proposed to monetize hardware long term: subscription fees and advertising. Is there a third way that you’re thinking of that I’m not aware of?

No. The third way is the traditional model of “we innovate and we ask our customers to upgrade.” This is the current model. And we execute this model very well because we have very good innovators in-house who create great products.

That’s certainly the model today. It’s not a bad model, especially as we continue to design more sustainable products. We continue to recycle and refurbish products. These are all good things. But having said that, I’d be interested in a forever mouse or a forever video conferencing solution where you could build a business model around just updating the software.

Let me ask you a straightforward question: Can you imagine a subscription mouse?

There is a possibility.

And will it be the mouse forever?

Yeah.

This means you pay a subscription fee for software updates for your mouse.

Yes, you will never have to worry about that again, it’s just like our video conferencing services today.

But it’s a rat.

But it’s a rat, yeah.

I think consumers may perceive them as very different.

[Laughs] Yes, but it’s awesome. Think of it like a diamond-encrusted mouse.