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Undeniably so. But charging a subscription for what is essentially a product feels like extortion to the consumer.

If using a device incurs you maintenance costs, whether those are servers or engineers, then by all means, charge a subscription, and I'll happily pay for it if it's priced appropriately. If, on the other hand, my usage doesn't depend on a service you provide, but I'm paying for R&D of your next product, then politely bugger off.

Companies love the subscription model because it's mostly fixed recurring revenue, but this trend of making everything a subscription needs to stop.



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