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Philips Won't Block Third-Party Bulbs After All (engadget.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the on-second-thought dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A day after Philips announced that it would drop support for third-party Hue bulbs the company has reversed its decision. An announcement reads is part: "We recently upgraded the software for Philips Hue to ensure the best seamless connected lighting experience for our customers. This change was made in good faith. However, we under estimated the impact this would have on a small number of customers who use lights from other brands which could not be controlled by the Philips Hue software. In view of the sentiment expressed by our customers, we have decided to reverse the software upgrade so that lights from other brands continue to work as they did before with the Philips Hue system."

14 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. That Was Quick by sexconker · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm glad I sent that caustic, hateful tweet about it. It surely played a role in this decision.

    1. Re:That Was Quick by argumentsockpuppet · · Score: 5, Funny

      Then thank you internet citizen, you are my hero.

    2. Re:That Was Quick by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 4, Funny

      Even Phillips executives hate to be called cows.

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    3. Re:That Was Quick by TWX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm glad I sent that caustic, hateful tweet about it. It surely played a role in this decision.

      I wouldn't underestimate the effect of directed complaints when those complaints become widely known. The bigger challenge is seeing that they don't re-reverse when the heat is off and think they can now get away with it once fewer people are paying attention.

      I had to sit through a mandatory training the other day, and one study claimed that for every complaint vocalized by a person, there are twenty-six people that feel the same way but haven't expressed it back to the company. If even half that number is true then that's an awful lot of people that are unsatisfied. If this Philips product is fairly new and its development costs not yet recuperated then they can't afford for people to see bad-press and choose to remove it from consideration.

      --
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    4. Re:That Was Quick by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

      Even Phillips executives hate to be called cows

      Not as much as cows hate to be called Philips executives.

    5. Re:That Was Quick by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Funny

      The tweet was very mooving.

    6. Re:That Was Quick by DeathElk · · Score: 3, Funny

      That comment was udderly uncalled for.

    7. Re: That Was Quick by johnsnails · · Score: 3, Funny

      I didn't get it. It went in one ear and out the udder.

    8. Re: That Was Quick by KGIII · · Score: 3, Funny

      Come on now. You're just milking it for more bad puns.

      --
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  2. Well thanks for tipping your hand anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thanks for announcing that you have both the drive and the ability to lock down your """smart"""bulbs to their own little Philips eco-system, regardless of how you plan on leveraging it. It's still a nice red-flag for those of us who don't want to throw their money down the toilet.

    1. Re:Well thanks for tipping your hand anyway by Alypius · · Score: 5, Funny

      See, if it had a little fruit shape and called it "iHue", this wouldn't even be news. People would've lined up for the privilege of saying, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

  3. Sure, Philips... by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This change was made in good faith. However, we under estimated the impact this would have on a small number of customers who use lights from other brands which could not be controlled by the Philips Hue software.

    The fact they changed their decision shows it's not really such a small number of customers.

  4. So... Too soon? by Falconnan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I read this a bit differently than how they worded it. To me it reads, "The combination of low numbers of adopters of the system combined with a natural desire to avoid 'lock-in' will limit our market share. Hence, we have decided to wait until more people adopt the product before trying again." Until they promise to NEVER do this AGAIN I recommend against the product.

  5. "Drop support"? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A day after Philips announced that it would drop support for third-party Hue bulbs

    Is "drop support for" a euphemism for "actively block"?

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.