Logitech killing Harmony Remotes

Has there ever been a remote that didn’t look hideous? The looks of the Slideclick don’t bother us and having one remote we can do everything we do on a regular basis to the TV (namely setting an auto off timer) is more important than looks. And the bulk it adds makes it harder to lose.

My biggest problem with the Google Remote is it’s so close to but not exactly like the Roku remote. My muscle memory is for the Roku so I often get the wrong button on Google unless I’m looking at it. But that’s on me more than anything.

Harmony is probably falling victim to the innovator’s dilemma. They failed to plan for a future where a complicated remote to replace other complicated remotes will no longer be something enough people need to sustain the market. It didn’t help that it was a small part of a much larger company and it really never was in the main competency area of that larger company. So the lack of innovation has as much to do with lack of investment as it does to do with a failure to recognize the changing markets or take the reins of the market and innovate something new themselves, even if it came at the expense of their core market. When all the bosses care about is next quarter’s results, it’s really hard to convince them to take a few hits for a couple of years for creating a new market or increased market share later.

As home automation enthusiasts though we need to take our own lesson from this. Nothing is forever in this space. Pick a technology, and technology at random. Out of a hundred I’d be surprised if more than one of them will still be around and functional in 20 years. Home automation is forever a moving target.

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