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Keurig Stock Drops, Says It Was Wrong About DRM Coffee Pods

Posted by samzenpus on from the worst-laid-plans dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Green Mountain (Keurig) stock dropped by 10% this morning after a brutal earnings report. The reason? CNN Money reports that DRM has weakened sales of their Keurig 2.0. CEO Brian Kelley admits, "Quite honestly, we were wrong." Last year Green Mountain decided to make their new coffee machines work with licensed pods only. The company says they now plan to license more outside brands, and bring back “My K-Cup” reusable filters.

76 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. Yep, they were... by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have been a loyal user of K-Cups for years now...

    I will never buy a DRM coffee machine...

    The whole idea is just stupid. I get that they are trying to make money from every cup sold, just like the razor model, but frankly that is a boardroom fantasy...

    ---

    The same issue with music happened... once Amazon started selling DRM free music, I started buying, now having a collection of hundreds of "CDs" all downloaded to all my devices.

    I don't pirate any of them, nor do I share them outside my family. Sell me a product I control at a reasonable price and I'll pay you money.

    Simple.

    1. Re:Yep, they were... by trout007 · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's why I use a French press and a straight razor. Both will still be working in 25 years.

      --
      I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    2. Re:Yep, they were... by NoKaOi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole idea is just stupid. I get that they are trying to make money from every cup sold, just like the razor model, but frankly that is a boardroom fantasy...

      Exactly why I didn't buy one of these machines. I thought they were totally a-holes for making this move, but I gotta hand it to them, it's a rare thing for a business to admit that they were wrong. Good on them!

    3. Re:Yep, they were... by countSudoku() · · Score: 5, Funny

      How the hell do you get the razors to press?!?!?! I keep breaking the urn and my fingers are bleeding like crazy!!!!1!

      --
      This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
    4. Re:Yep, they were... by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I will never buy a DRM coffee machine...

      Unless you're a prostitute, don't fuck your customer.

      You can get away with DRM on DVDs because consumers don't understand the tech. The phallus is invisible.

      You can't get away with DRM on a plastic cup with coffee grounds in it. The consumers UNDERSTAND that product, and KNOW you're fucking them. The phallus is very much visible.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    5. Re:Yep, they were... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except it's not really a good lesson to the marketplace if all is forgiven.... "Try DRM, if it works, great. If not, your former customers will forgive you and all's good."

      They should not be congratulated for recognizing how stupid they are. Let's congratulate and support the coffee maker companies who DIDN'T try this.

      We need to engender fear in the heart of every executive who would even CONSIDER this insanity. So I say fuck them-- let their company suffer from their idiocy and let others learn from their failure.

      If this news makes you want to reconsider a keurig machine, re-reconsider. There are plenty of other great alternatives. And that goes for printer makers and anyone else who's thinking about going in this direction.

    6. Re:Yep, they were... by oobayly · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or accountant, or lawyer. Bonus for those who fucked their accountant and got their prostitute to do their tax return.

    7. Re:Yep, they were... by Wycliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole idea is just stupid. I get that they are trying to make money from every cup sold, just like the razor model, but frankly that is a boardroom fantasy...

      With the exception of the DRM part, the rest of the 2.0 idea was somewhat sound. The idea that you could have a barcode which adjusted the brew temp, etc... depending on what was in the cup and have a larger cup so you could include creamer, etc.. If they would have just did that and made a better product and completely left off the DRM part then they might have actually had a sellable product and they could have even gotten the advantage of being able to hold off generics longer with renewed patents. By adding the DRM all they did was make sure that 2.0 was a complete flop.

    8. Re:Yep, they were... by NoKaOi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh hell, I just noticed this in the article: Keurig plans to bring back the My K-cup accessory to allow customers to brew other brands of coffee. Okay, but what about "unofficial" k-cups? I like to use k-cups that don't have the DRM, and I rarely use my own coffee grounds in the My K-cup accessory. Noticeably absent is them saying you can use non-DRM k-cups. Then again, reporters are idiots so they may not have bothered learning the difference between the My k-cup which allows you to use grounds vs non-DRM k-cups. But if they still don't accept non-DRM k-cups, then fuck 'em!

    9. Re:Yep, they were... by hax4bux · · Score: 5, Funny

      Exactly. And they are EMP proof. Bring on the apocalypse, I will be shaved and enjoying my coffee.

    10. Re:Yep, they were... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

      sounds like you prefer a hot cup of beard-coffee in the morning?

      me, I like my coffee whisker-free.

      (whiskey is ok, on occasion, though).

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    11. Re:Yep, they were... by EmeraldBot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except it's not really a good lesson to the marketplace if all is forgiven.... "Try DRM, if it works, great. If not, your former customers will forgive you and all's good."

      They should not be congratulated for recognizing how stupid they are. Let's congratulate and support the coffee maker companies who DIDN'T try this.

      We need to engender fear in the heart of every executive who would even CONSIDER this insanity. So I say fuck them-- let their company suffer from their idiocy and let others learn from their failure.

      If this news makes you want to reconsider a keurig machine, re-reconsider. There are plenty of other great alternatives. And that goes for printer makers and anyone else who's thinking about going in this direction.

      In other words, you're advocating to never forgive them for their mistakes. If you can lead a huge multinational business and never make a single mistake, ever, then congratulations to you, but the rest of us are only human. The idea may have been stupid, yes, but everyone screws up at some points in their life. If they continue to make these choices, then yes, I'm sure people will switch, but one failed marketing line shouldn't prevent you from ever using their coffee makers again. Seems a shame to lose a very convenient and otherwise decent coffee maker over a petty grudge - although, since I don't own one, I am admittedly only assuming it's convenient.

      --
      "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    12. Re:Yep, they were... by jrminter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Earlier this year our Keurig brewer needed to be replaced. Went to the store and got a new one. Got it home and our existing K-cups wouldn't work - they were the old version. Called Keurig - they told me they would replace my cups. Told them that wasn't good enough because I didn't want to worry every time we bought cups. The rep said there was nothing she could do. Told her she lost a customer for life.

      Took the brewer back, got a refund. Ordered a Mr Coffee version that is quite acceptable. Use whatever cups I want. Hope their management lose their jobs over this one. First rule of business is to treat your customers with respect or they (we) will find vendors who will. Interestingly enough, everybody figured out how to defeat their DRM. Keurig alienated customers and competitors found a workaround. Queue up Nelson Munch: "Haa Haa."

    13. Re:Yep, they were... by xevioso · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not an issue of a mere mistake. It's primarily a bad business decision, but also a very cynical one. I can forgive the bad business decision...companies make those all the time. It's the TYPE of business decision it was, which was an attempt to hijack choice away from consumers, which affects people personally when they use this machine for their coffee. That's something people will have a hard time forgiving.

    14. Re:Yep, they were... by xevioso · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well actually, they were literally admitting they were wrong. Literally.

    15. Re:Yep, they were... by Imagix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have to disagree with you. This wasn't a case of "hey, let's try this new, innovative thing" followed by "whups, unintended consequences, we need to stop doing that". This was a case of "Hey, those printer ink guys can get away with this stunt, and the software guys can get away with this stunt. So what if the actual consumers of both of those things abhor the idea. We're gonna do it anyway because more $$$$!" followed by "Oh wait, our customers have a choice to do something else with their coffee, so they're not buying our stuff anymore. Well, lets put out a 'oops' statement, and perhaps let a few more people use our DRM thingy." There needs to be _punishment_ for this. A failed marketing line was New Coke. This is quite a bit different.

    16. Re:Yep, they were... by slew · · Score: 2

      In other words, you're advocating to never forgive them for their mistakes. If you can lead a huge multinational business and never make a single mistake, ever, then congratulations to you, but the rest of us are only human. The idea may have been stupid, yes, but everyone screws up at some points in their life. If they continue to make these choices, then yes, I'm sure people will switch, but one failed marketing line shouldn't prevent you from ever using their coffee makers again. Seems a shame to lose a very convenient and otherwise decent coffee maker over a petty grudge - although, since I don't own one, I am admittedly only assuming it's convenient.

      Well some of still believe huge multinational businesses aren't human beings therefore do not need or deserve forgiveness.

      If a business dies, another one will take over (or do you still buy your drygoods from FW woolworths and not Amazon). Sure it might be a shame that some people lose their jobs, but it's not like we a shunning another human being from society where they starve and die. I'm not advocating holding petty grudges, but I'm saying we need not anthropomorphize corporations. Corporations are simply limited liability constructs created to facilitate the concentration of capital for investment purposes, not living entities that can have their feelings hurt.

      Although of course certainly employees of such an entity are human, they can (and usually do) associate with different companies over a lifetime. For most individual humans, your identity is constant for your lifetime, you cannot easily make a fresh start (w/o moving to a new place and with the internet maybe not even moving will help) and concepts like forgiving a mistake makes more sense (although I'm sure there will be many that debate this for some individuals).

      So maybe a corporation is more like a family? Corporations dump their leaders on occasion (often do with bad news). Why not have this leader (Mr Kelley) dive off with a golden parachute for approving this mistake (maybe he could get one of his old jobs back at Coca-cola or North American Van Lines, GE, Ford or Procter and Gamble) to attempt to regain trust? If a family was known for doing that would you even forgive them? Maybe this is better at illustrating how corporations don't deserved any sympathies granted to humans, right?

    17. Re:Yep, they were... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I could never finish the bath before it got cold.

    18. Re:Yep, they were... by hawguy · · Score: 4

      I will never buy a DRM coffee machine...

      Unless you're a prostitute, don't fuck your customer.

      Or Apple -- you lock in your customers all you want if you're Apple.

    19. Re:Yep, they were... by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This isn't just a "mistake", DRM is an abhorrent violation of the most fundamental consumer rights. The shattered and flayed corpses of companies that go down that road should be left impaled along the roadways as a warning to the next TEN GENERATIONS not to fuck with this.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    20. Re:Yep, they were... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It was greed. The old saying goes: You can sheer a sheep many times, but you can only skin it once.

    21. Re:Yep, they were... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly. Here's why: they were always this way (since their rebirth). I'm sure Tassimo and Nespresso are doing just fine. They started with a closed system and people accepted it.

      Keurig put DRM on their non-DRM product.

      The moral of the story? Open sourcing is a one-way street. Don't you open source your product, don't ever think of close sourcing it.

    22. Re:Yep, they were... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

      My doctor told me to not look away and dont blink.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    23. Re:Yep, they were... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      There needs to be _punishment_ for this.

      There will be. As long as they include DRM, less people will buy their coffeemakers, because they don't want to worry about whether a K-cup is licensed or not. They can either be happy selling the coffeemakers or they can blow their coffee out their arse. I mean, fuck a Keurig crap coffee anyway, but still. I wouldn't buy a DRM coffee bean to put into my grinder, either.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    24. Re:Yep, they were... by Spamalope · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They tried to screw us consumers, and we were able to stop them. They didn't think better of it and stop, it's purely that they couldn't profit from it.

    25. Re:Yep, they were... by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In other words, you're advocating to never forgive them for their mistakes.

      How about we forgive them when they fire the people responsible for "mistakenly" deciding to intentionally screw their customers?

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    26. Re:Yep, they were... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

      My wife loves her Keurig. (Like yours, the non-DRM version.) She got two reusable cups to use with it. She can buy whatever coffee she likes, put it in the reusable cup, brew her coffee, and then clean the filter out for the next cup. Keurig's DRM would have prevented this and would have forced her to buy only Keurig-approved coffee. We'd rather leave the "Keurig ecosystem" entirely. Keurig doesn't have a monopoly on coffee.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    27. Re: Yep, they were... by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Forgiveness works with rational humans who function under ethics, but corporations in capitalism aren't that. Corporations are psychopaths working to figure out ways to take advantage of consumers. That is their modus operandi.

      We aren't advocating not forgiving the company, we are advocating making an example of the company so that the other psychopaths see there are real, severe consequences to this kind of behavior.

      Is that fair to GM? Maybe not, but neither is the rest of reality, and it is better for the rest of us that it is that way.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    28. Re:Yep, they were... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      funny you should mention that. did you know that there is a town in western australia, Mercy, where the people have entirely different tastes in their hot beverages from their fellow Aussies. seems that while tea brewed from Koala fur is not very popular in Australia, it does have a small following. however, as one might expect, most aussies like to brew the fur in a french press or melitta type pot, thus keeping the pieces of fur out of their hot drink. This is not true in Mercy. they brew the fur in an open pot of water, and serve the resultant brew straight, with plenty of fur in it. Thus, the Koala tea of Mercy is not strained.....

    29. Re:Yep, they were... by mikeabbott420 · · Score: 2

      I'm going to have trouble growing beans in Nova Scotia so I'm in the anti apocalypse camp despite a french press and a hand cranked ceramic burr grinder.

      --
      This program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite, and viewers like you.
  2. Plan to "license more outside brands"? by volkerdi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If their plan is to get more third parties to go along with their DRM, then they haven't really learned a thing yet.

    1. Re:Plan to "license more outside brands"? by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would say if they haven't started shipping units with the DRM disabled at the factory, they haven't yet gotten the message.

      Really they should do that and provide existing customers with a freedom clip if they want to salvage their sales (and stock value) for the year.

    2. Re:Plan to "license more outside brands"? by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 5, Interesting

      No, they've learned a few things:

      1: People care about what brands of coffee they drink.
      2: Limiting choices there makes them look like the bad guy.

      They think (and may well be right...) that by making this apology and opening up the choices on what coffee people make using their coffeemakers, that people won't notice that they're still limiting their choices on coffeemakers.

      They've learned to pick their battles and manipulate opinion.

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
  3. stuuupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Coffee is pouring hot water on ground beans. DRM'd Dispensers try to ignore that fact.

  4. Instead of DRM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...they should have included Apps in their coffee apps so you could app while apping coffee! Or better yet, don't bother with coffee, and just brew more apps!

    Apps!

  5. Hacked by LeadSongDog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Turns out their DRM consists of a colored rim on the pod. Taping a used v2 lid on to a v1 pod is all it takes.

    --
    Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
    1. Re:Hacked by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually special ink that fluoresces a particular way in infrared light.

      But yes, you can mod the machine by sticking the rim of a v2 K-cup inside it in the right place.

    2. Re:Hacked by SharpFang · · Score: 2

      It doesn't matter how trivial and stupid the DRM is - what matters is that circumventing it is illegal.

      Like these AudioCDs that had a data track that would auto-install some malware that breaks your CD writing capability. Circumventing it required holding shift down while inserting the disk, to prevent autoplay from starting. The guy who published that information was arrested for "providing tools for circumvention of DRM".

      Their whole DRM could have consisted in a single notch in the edge, and as result placing scissors next to the coffee maker would make you a felon.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  6. I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally I'd like to see the environmental nightmare of the Keurig and Tassimo curl up and die.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 4, Informative

      This. It is rather ridiculous that people use these non recyclable "K-cups" instead of a french press or just a pot of coffee.
      Billions of those cups, with the grounds still in them, filling up landfills, right when were trying to get away from crap like that.

      --
      We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    2. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by lophophore · · Score: 4, Interesting

      nespresso is even worse the k-cup. Though they both are pretty bad. an awful lot of waste for some convenience.

      me? I grind my own beans and put them into the portafilter of my 20-year-old Saeco espresso machine -- it won't die. The only waste is the spent coffee, and I feed that to my compost heap.

      --
      there are 3 kinds of people:
      * those who can count
      * those who can't
    3. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by Wycliffe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Personally I'd like to see the environmental nightmare of the Keurig and Tassimo curl up and die.

      I own a keurig and a half dozen reusable pods that I throw in the dishwasher. I actually waste less coffee, coffee filters, etc.. now that I own a keurig and I like that I can make a single cup of coffee in the morning without any waste. I used the 20 pods that came free with my keurig but I haven't bought any since. I don't understand why people continue to buy those overpriced pieces of plastic when the same exact coffee is a fraction of the cost. Are people really that lazy that they can't spend 3 seconds dumping the old grounds in the trash?

    4. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by countSudoku() · · Score: 5, Informative

      I was not liking that either, but there's a brand at Costco (San Fran I think) that makes fully biodegradable k-kup compatible single serves. The bottoms are just filter, and the top is a corn-plastic ring and some kind of high-strength paper. Works great, dolphins agree!

      --
      This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
    5. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by zlives · · Score: 2

      people are lazy, but the advertising and marketing of disposable items for extraordinary profit is partially to blame as well.

    6. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 2

      Personally I'd like to see the environmental nightmare of the Keurig and Tassimo curl up and die.

      Enh, I've always used a filter basket and normal coffee grounds with my Keurig. I love the thing personally. I have an older one without DRM silliness. They really are nice appliances when used intelligently.

    7. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2

      I don't understand why people continue to buy those overpriced pieces of plastic

      For the same reason you see these same people with 2 x crates of over priced bottled water in their cart.
      I don't understand it either.

    8. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by justthinkit · · Score: 3, Informative

      This. Luckily I think this (horrible, nasty, awful taste) will help sink the whole Keurig ship.

      I prefer strong coffee. Impossible to make in a Keurig, because you don't control the ratio of coffee to water. There is a cup size setting -- I set it to the smallest cup, assuming that would extract the most coffee essence per ounce -- but that still didn't make it strong enough for me. I was also trying it with my preferred blend (in a reusable K-cup) and it tasted bloody awful. I would rather eat my group coffee. Seriously.

      I think the only people using these regularly are people without taste buds...and the corporate world where they are happy people aren't spending 10 minutes making a cup of coffee.

      K-Cups are a weapon of mass destruction, accounting for 1% of landfill waste.

      --
      I come here for the love
    9. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 2

      Personally I'd like to see the environmental nightmare of the Keurig and Tassimo curl up and die.

      I own a keurig and a half dozen reusable pods that I throw in the dishwasher. I actually waste less coffee, coffee filters, etc.. now that I own a keurig and I like that I can make a single cup of coffee in the morning without any waste. I used the 20 pods that came free with my keurig but I haven't bought any since. I don't understand why people continue to buy those overpriced pieces of plastic when the same exact coffee is a fraction of the cost. Are people really that lazy that they can't spend 3 seconds dumping the old grounds in the trash?

      I only have one reusable pod, but I find it works just dandy at work. I have a french press at home, but at work I don't have the resources to clean out a french press, and a standard coffee maker usually results in the coffee burning away all day, and no one cleaning out the machine. Single serve coffee works great in this situation.

      But why would I pay $0.50-$1.00 per cup of disposable Keurig, when I can pay $2 for a reusable pod, and $8 for a kg of ground coffee

    10. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by irrational_design · · Score: 2

      Well, that is true. But I don't drink coffee and now that we have a Keurig machine at work I have the admin get hot chocolate and apple cider cups for myself. So... I'm destroying the environment while drinking a tasty beverage. Such a first world thing to do.

    11. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by mschuyler · · Score: 2

      It does work just fine. Unfortunately the coffee they use in them is terrible. I have a whole box of French Roast that is unpalatable.

      --
      How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
    12. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by adolf · · Score: 2

      My boss has a Keurig machine, and he keeps stock of my favorite coffee pods (he is a good boss).

      So to me, it's not about waste (the dumpster empties itself every Monday, and costs him the same whether full or empty), and it's not about the expense (I offered to give him money once, and it insulted him so I stopped doing that).

      There is a science to coffee brewing, and the first part of that is starting with fresh beans and much of the rest is consistent temperature and brewing time and good water.

      The Keurig system does a pretty good job on freshness (they keep ambient oxygen out), and does an excellent job on temperature and brewing time, and the filter on the faucet in the shop kitchen does a decent job making tap water tasty.

      This all conspires to mean that every cup of Newman's Own Medium Roast Breakfast Blend tastes just like the one I had earlier today. Or last week. Or last year. Or two years ago, when he had a completely different Keurig machine.

      To me, the taste of the end result is the advantage of pre-filled, disposable pods: It always produces an excellent cup of coffee. Nevermind the convenience: I can walk in the back door of the shop, start a cup of coffee in about 20 seconds, say Hi to the boss and go get my to-go cup in a couple of minutes later.

      Of course, my situation is unique since I have no material or waste expense with the boss's Keurig. At home, we go through a few 10-cup drip-brewed thermal carafes of coffee a day. Sometimes if we expect company during the day we fire up the antique 60-cup percolator. We seldom feel that we've wasted any coffee. But the stuff I make at home, though very tasty and much, much cheaper is never as consistent as the boss's Keurig.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    13. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by mjwx · · Score: 2

      I was not liking that either, but there's a brand at Costco (San Fran I think) that makes fully biodegradable k-kup compatible single serves. The bottoms are just filter, and the top is a corn-plastic ring and some kind of high-strength paper. Works great, dolphins agree!

      Its still incredibly wasteful. All those extra resources just so you can make a crap cup of coffee.

      Once you learn how to make a proper espresso you will look upon pod machines with disdain and disgust. Personally given the choice between pod and instant, I'll take instant. They're both crap but the instant is faster, cheaper, less wasteful and doesn't make me feel like a hipster.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    14. Re:I'd like to see the environmental nightmare die by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      Exactly. Either you have good coffee in earth destroying pods, or you get the compostable pods with the most rancid low grade floor sweepings coffee out there.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. Rating: Sell by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2
    From the article;

    It is also working to launch the Keurig KOLD system in the fall, which it hopes will revolutionize how people consume cold beverages at home.

    Boldly going where many others have failed before. At least with coffee, there was always a need & market for easy 1 cup brewing. I can't see what need they may be filling with cold beverages, and I don't see people adding another appliance unless it is something quite "revolutionary." Am I missing an obvious need?

    For a company that has a limited product line, launching a new one and failing can be very painful.

  8. I have an idea by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Make your product better than your imitators! That's all you need to do. Why does everyone buy SD, PNY, Adata, and Silicon Power flash drives over those much cheaper no-name brand Hong Kong wonders on ebay? Because they lie about the speeds, they fail in about a week, and they're made with flimsy materials. Why do people go to Starbucks instead of Kwik Trip (or Seven Eleven for you southerners) for their coffee? Because Starbucks' product is better. That or because they're hippie douchebags. Either way, if you make your product better, your competitors get no business.

    1. Re:I have an idea by bobbied · · Score: 2

      Starbucks is good coffee? I've not had a good cup of coffee from them in years. They used to be good, but things kept getting worse and worse as they automated all the "process" stuff away and went nuts on portion control. (i.e. it became about money and not good coffee).

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:I have an idea by Harlequin80 · · Score: 2

      In Aus Starbucks openned 85 stores. Lost $144 million dollars and then closed 60 of their stores....

  9. I almost bought a 2.0 DRMed... by Ducho_CWB · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While looking for a coffee machine, I liked one of this 2.0 Keurig models.
    Then I learned about this "only keurig aproved" cups and actually bought an 1.0 keurig machine instead.
    And using this 1.0 model I can't see a reason for one buy a 2.0 model.

    1. Re:I almost bought a 2.0 DRMed... by MBGMorden · · Score: 2

      Or you could just have a regular coffee maker for such occurrences and a Keurig for day-to-day. My little drip coffee maker normally sits under the cabinet unless I need to make a pot (rare). It cost like $20.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  10. The other way round by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    The French Press is to prepare his skin for the straight razor - by compressing shaving foam directly into his pores, hair literally leaps from follicles into the path of the blade.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  11. Thank you consumers! by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 2

    At last, a serious blow to the pocket book for companies employing stupid DRM crap.

    Consumers voted with their wallets and Keurig learns a valuable lesson. Let's hope other industries learn from their mistake and consumer continue to take a stance against this garbage.

  12. Re:"Quite honestly, we were wrong." by bobbied · · Score: 2

    > "Quite honestly, we were wrong."

    YA THINK??? Sorry sorry sorry. That's a little unfair, now that they're trying to do something more reasonable. Too bad it took a shot to the pocketbook, though.

    They are sorry to be caught... If they really cared, they'd provide a DRM "fix" kit for anybody who owns a 2.0 device.... Betcha they don't do that..

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  13. Didn't matter to me. by kuzb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hacking the Keurig is as easy as Hollywood style bomb defusing. You open it and literally cut the green wire. It takes less than 5 minutes and removes all restrictions.

    Video explanation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  14. They could have, if they were not stupid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They could have gotten away with it if they had been smarter about it.

    K-cup is popular.

    The 2.0 machine will do things like espresso, and it needs the smarts to do it,

    If they had set the machine to treat K-cups without the chips just like the old machine did, no one would have cared.

    As more of the featurefull drinks became more popular, more drinks would move over to that.

    10 years out, when people are drinking a LOT more of the drinks that use the new features, your making a LOT more money.

    Oh, wait, that doesn't drive everyone else out of the market. But it sells a lot more machines and a lot more licences to make drinks using the new features.

  15. In the meantime by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My 20 year old Saeco Vienna superautomatic just grinds, tamps, brews and foams with barely a microcontroller in there and physical buttons. No LCD, no IoT, no touch screen, no flavors, no DRM.

    Until they can DRM individual coffee beans, I'm never changing.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
    1. Re:In the meantime by Tokolosh · · Score: 2

      It's called "Fair Trade".

      --
      Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
    2. Re:In the meantime by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 2

      What's crappy about it? The dated looks?

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    3. Re:In the meantime by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you clean it, descale it, keep the gaskets lubed and grinder sharp, it's OK.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
  16. Re:Well duh..... by pem · · Score: 4, Funny
    in other news, Keurig is not Apple.

    FTFY

  17. The best thing Keurig can do is die by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am not even opposed to DRM per se. DRM as a means of piracy prevention is fair (although it's rarely implemented in a good way). DRM as a means of vendor lock in is completely unacceptable. If Keurig somehow remains successful, it reinforces the precedent that dabbling with vendor lock in is ok, as long as you apologize when it becomes a PR problem. What would be better is if a huge company goes bankrupt over it, and scares other companies from trying the same thing.

    1. Re:The best thing Keurig can do is die by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fact that you can't think of a good way to implement DRM, doesn't mean that a good way doesn't/can't exist.

      No, it's the fact that no one can think of a good way to implement DRM. At least, it hasn't happened yet, and a lot of human effort has been spent on it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:The best thing Keurig can do is die by bzipitidoo · · Score: 2

      No, I am saying DRM is unfair, period. It's not just the implementation, or the excesses. It is the goal. They are trying to make ideas and thinking no different than material property. They want people to have to buy and sell ideas as if they were no different than material goods such as clothes. They have resorted to propaganda, equating copying to stealing at every opportunity, calling people who do it by the loaded term "pirates" no matter how innocent the copying, calling ideas "property" with the terminology "intellectual properties", and even referring to all of us as "consumers", as if listening to a song is no different than eating a slice of bread. Further, they are trying to pull that one on the public only where it suits them. These are the guys who brought us the really unethical and cheating practices of Hollywood Accounting. They conveniently exempt themselves from the rules they say everyone else should follow.

      Equating material and immaterial things, to try to turn our entire society into an ownership game at which they can easily win because they're so good at it, is a terrible vision. Civilization itself depends upon the sharing of ideas. We did not rise to the top of the animal kingdom because we are stronger or faster than all other animals. We obviously aren't. Of animals about our size, we are the slowest and weakest by far. We made it to the top because we work together to invent and build things other animal cannot. Now these tyrants of the mind want to control all commerce of thought. If they had their way, no one would be able to communicate anything at all without paying them a big toll. Through bribery and corruption of our public officials, they have had far too much success at lengthening copyright beyond all sense, despite the vast majority, of perhaps over 90%, in favor of scaling copyright back. They've expanded the scope of copyrights and patents to cover things they were never meant to cover originally. Should software be patentable? They've actually had the hubris to patent genes, and laws of nature, copyright mere lists of data and facts. They are allowed to try to fool people with EULAs and contractual terms that are in fact not enforceable, though they claim they are of course. When they whistle, our police forces, who we pay for and who serve us, come running to do their bidding. They've tried to make us pay to police every network packet, to check whether it contains copyrighted material. They would shut down and abolish the Internet, the used book store, the public library, the university, and the grade school. Our children would not be allowed to learn a thing without having to pay and pay again for the privilege, because knowledge is valuable.

      Fortunately for all of us, imposition and enforcement of their vision is impractical. The universe does not work in accordance with their desires.

      But the first step is to take that aura of respectability off these Big Media bandits. They are not fine upstanding business people, they commit worse thievery than anything they accuse us of. Bank reputations are much tarnished for their role in causing the Great Recession through blatant dishonesty, cheating, and fraud. Why do people like you accord the practitioners of Hollywood Accounting respect, and listen to their propaganda as if it was genuinely meant? Over and over, they have exposed themselves as bullies, cowards, liars, manipulators, and thieves. But they're rich, and that's all that matters to far too many people. Many of us realize that the mental shortcut of measuring the worth of a person by the worth of their material possessions is wrong, but we do it anyway.

      What is the point of driving a single mother into bankruptcy and taking her home away, over a measly 24 songs? Her children certainly did nothing to deserve being kicked out of their home. They are notorious for picking people they think they can beat up, to make an example of, to terrorize the rest of us. A number of young people have been forced to give up their dreams of getting a college education, because these scumbags decided that making that financially impossible was suitable punishment for sharing a few songs. And those are the people you think still deserve a hearing?

      --
      Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  18. *Cough* Bullshit by mysidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The company says they now plan to license more outside brands, and bring back “My K-Cup” reusable filters.

    If they really believed they were wrong about the things they were actually wrong about, then they would Open-Source the DRM technology and make the interoperability specs public domain, and stop trying to charge licensing dollars.

  19. They learned nothing. by Stan92057 · · Score: 2

    "The company says they now plan to license more outside brands, and bring back “My K-Cup” reusable filters."

    They learned nothing. They will continue to DRM the coffee maker just license More pods.I hope the pod makers flip them off as they should.They don't need Keurig,Keurig needs them.

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none
  20. Don't be a lazy a-hole by AttillaTheNun · · Score: 2

    buy a french press or a proper espresso machine and learn to make a decent cup of coffee without all the stupid prepackaged waste.

  21. Even the sales guys know about it by PPalmgren · · Score: 2

    The keurig 2.0 pissed so many people off, that standard store clerks know about the keurig 2.0 and warn people away from it. I warned my stepmother about it before she went out to buy one as a present for someone, and then she got reminded again at the store. I was happy to know that they're actively pushing people away from an inferior product.

    Also of note, I found something funny in one of their third party k-cup purchases at my parent's house. It came with something called a 'freedom clip.' It goes over the sensor and does something to the 2.0 machine, preventing all the tomfoolery.