Logitech’s ‘Forever Mouse’ Idea Pulled Back After Backlash

It was just a few months ago that we had some fun with Logitech over it's amazing, never been done before AI mouse... that was actually just a rehash of a previous mouse that had a button that could be used to launch a ChatGPT prompt. So it wasn't so much an AI mouse, as a mouse that could button-click you to an AI prompt. To borrow a catchphrase from John Oliver... cool."

Well, Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber went on the Decoder podcast recently to talk about some of the changes that were occurring at Logitech, as well as an idea for a new forever mouse" that would come with a subscription cost for regular feature updates. This device would be built solidly, so as to allow for a longer lifespan than your typical mouse. But then came the question of how to fit a device with that kind of longevity into a business model.

I'm going to ask this very directly. Can you envision a subscription mouse?

Possibly.

And that would be the forever mouse?

Yeah.

So you pay a subscription for software updates to your mouse.

Yeah, and you never have to worry about it again, which is not unlike our video conferencing services today.

But it's a mouse.

But it's a mouse, yeah.

I think consumers might perceive those to be very different.

Narrator: consumers perceived those to be very different. From both the public and tech journalists alike, the idea of a subscription-based optical mouse was lampooned viciously. And for good reason. The fatigue in the public for subscription sprawl is very, very real. As is the public's ability to suss out when they're being scammed. The idea that a peripheral like a mouse should come with a monthly subscription is obviously absurd on its face. I need my mouse to point and click at things and then, hey, maybe a couple of other features. I don't need it to change. I don't need it to download anything beyond any updates that will keep it working with my operating system. Point. And then click.

Ultimately, though, I think the main problem people might find with a forever mouse-which, let's face it, is really just another way of saying a subscription mouse-is that many of us don't like having to continually pay for something we used to just own. It's already unsettling just how much of our digital space is offered as a service with a subscription rather than an up-front price tag, so do we really want our physical peripherals to join that list?

It's a question it appears we don't have to answer in the immediate. Logitech's Nicole Kenyon released a statement that the company has no plans for any mouse that would require a subscription with it.

There are no plans for a subscription mouse," said Logitech communications head Nicole Kenyon in a statement provided toThe Vergeand other publications.

Now, Kenyon writes in response to inaccurate reports about the interview, Logitech's stance is that the mouse mentioned is not an actual or planned product but a peek into provocative internal thinking on future possibilities for more sustainable consumer electronics."

Inaccurate reporting." Sorry, but no. At the very best, Faber was inarticulate or unclear in her statements as to whether this device or idea was planned or just some spitballed brainstorming result. And I don't doubt for a second that if the public was silent about this idea, it would have made its way into production plans.

For now, it appears, we'll have to stick with enjoying the AI" mouse along with watching this retreat from the public mocking the company has undergone.