Would you consider pay half now and then for each year a device lasts?

1 points by mar1n3r0 3 years ago | 5 comments

Over the past 5 years we can notice aggressive planned obsolescence applied across pretty much all products. From an all-sealed non-repairable designs to software limitations it's visible even to the non-technical users.

We can differentiate two product cycles. Premium products with no planned obsolescence - higher price, less frequent change of device. Mainstream products - designed to be replaced frequently, lower price.

Ideas

Initial price as low as mainstream. Users pay a fixed additional fee for each functioning year of the product thus reaching premium price if the product lasts longer.

A marketplace where only products with no planned obsolescence are sold based on the above model

Would you switch to such a purchasing model as a user?

Would you switch to such a production model as a company?

gregjor 3 years ago |

No. Too hard to forecast cash flow on the business side. And how would you handle someone paying half then telling you the device broke?

mar1n3r0 3 years ago | |

1st year in warranty. Afterwards inspection before recurring payment. If you fake it you have to return the device.

gregjor 3 years ago | | |

Maybe for an expensive piece of business equipment. For a consumer device I don't see that working -- the logistics of the "inspection" would impose prohibitive costs and administrative hassle. If someone doesn't submit to inspection you just turn them off? Seems like you want a subscription model based on usage, not a pay-for-use setup for the hardware.

allears 3 years ago |

Nope. Sometimes a device just gets outmoded, or my needs change, or I might just get bored with it. I wouldn't want to have to keep paying for it regardless.