pablolie;636295 Wrote:
> Like any mass-vs-hobbist product there's not going to be one generic
> product that covers every need. Just like integrated cameras in
> smartphones aren't about to kill the high end camera market, integrated
> player software or simplistic products are not going to end the niche
> the SB products play in.
>
> Is the SB something everybody should have in their home? No. But for
> many of us with audiophile aspirations and that view their music as a
> "collection" (and not a short term repository of current hits) the SB
> concept has and will retain a lot of appeal because of its range and
> flexibility.
>
> Will it be a large enough market for Logitech? Not sure, but that's a
> different question, and I am sure the market is large enough to attract
> someone's attention and cater to the SB installed base no matter what.
>
The below is pure speculation and not based on any facts.
I think the problem is that Logitech currently doesn't seem to know
which users they like to target:
- It's pretty clear they aren't targeting the geeks/audiophiles anymore
because most of the advanced features aren't prioritized
- It's also pretty clear that they aren't targeting the mass market
because they don't dare to upset the current customer base and simplify
the devices for the mass market.
It's also pretty clear they try to spend as few resources as possible
on Squeezebox development at the moment, which probably also is one of
the reasons why we don't see any move in any of the directions since
either direction would require development resources.
If they like to target the niche market, I believe it would require a
smaller company to run the business, something similar to Sonos or Slim
Devices. Possibly it could also work if there were a dedicated unit
within a big company like Logitech that executed the development and
business. However, as soon as upper management cares, it's going to
fail within a big company because it's too small compared to everything
else they are doing. It's always going to be easier to produce and sell
mices, at least as long as mices haven't been completely replaced with
touchpad devices and touch screens.
So in my mind, targeting the mass market is the only solution for
Logitech, the question is just if they dare to make the decisions
required to re-target the products this way. It's certainly going to
hurt their existing customer base which have a lot higher percentage of
geeks and audiophiles than most mass market products.
If they really decide to re-target towards mass market it could mean
things like:
- Drop SqueezeOS as platform and use a standard framework like Android
or something else similar.
- Drop local computer based server (SBS) and only focus on
mysqueezebox.com and to listen to local music you would have to connect
a USB drive directly to one of the Squeezebox devices. The result of
this could, but doesn't have to, mean dropped support for third party
plugins and instead possibly focus on supporting third party applets
running directly on the device.
- Drop web interface support, the devices have to be controlled via a
iOS/Android device or IR remote
- Drop support for advanced configuration options
- Drop focus on audio quality, it needs to be good enough but it
doesn't have to be state of the art.
The result would be similar to the Squeezebox Touch with a local hard
drive. In the mass market it got to be easy, plug in the device and
connect the external USB drive with music and start playing, no
installation or configuration on a computer what so ever. It would of
course require the Touch to actually work with most of the USB drives
out there and also work reliably without an external server.
It of course doesn't make much sense to do the above changes on
existing products, so what we are seeing now is probably Logitech
trying to get as much as possible out of existing customers and still
spend as little resources as possible on maintenance, support and
marketing. Just putting the existing products on the shelf in the
stores is going to sell some devices, even with minimal
maintenance/support, so it's worth for them to milk existing customers
a bit more.
If Logitech wants to continue in the audio streaming business but move
towards mass market, we are probably going to see something completely
new. It might be called Squeezebox, to re-use the brand, but it's
probably not going to be particular similar to the Squeezebox devices
we have seen so far. It's going to have less focus on audio quality and
customization possibilities and more focus on simplicity and price.
Possibly based on similar platform and hardware as Logitech Revue,
possibly developed by completely different resources than the current
Squeezebox team who is tied too much to this geek community and don't
want to upset us.
However, once again, this is just speculation and I'm probably
completely wrong about all this.
As long as Logitech has understand the advantage of supporting third
party customization/development the above doesn't have to be bad, the
customization options can still be possible to support through third
party add-ons if they like to support this.
All this is also not based on what I personally want to happen, because
I definitely want the audio quality and customization options to remain
in the future. I'm just saying that from a Logitech perspective there
are many reasons to not continue in the current direction, even though
most of us would love future improvement based on existing products.
One thing that's also important to realize is that the Squeezebox
product is very different from anything else Logitech sells. When your
typical Logitech device gets old, you throw it in the trash and buys a
new model.
Your Squeezebox have so far never gotten old, it has been continuously
improved, for free, making it less interesting to replace it with
something new. When a new Squeezebox have been released most of us
doesn't get it to replace a previous Squeezebox, most of us have just
add a new Squeezebox to our house and moved the old one to another room
and eventually we run out of rooms to put them in. This is a pretty
different from how you handle other typical Logitech devices and I also
believe it needs a different business strategy. I think Logitech needs
to find some way to earn money from their existing customers.
--
erland
Erland Isaksson ('My homepage' (http://erland.isaksson.info))
(Developer of 'many plugins/applets'
(http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/User:Erland). If my answer
helped you and you like to encourage future presence on this forum
and/or third party plugin/applet development, 'donations are always
appreciated' (http://erland.isaksson.info/donate))
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