TechSmartwatchesWould you pay a subscription to unlock your smartwatch?Your smartwatch’s most important features could be put behind a paywallWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechSmartwatchesWould you pay a subscription to unlock your smartwatch?Your smartwatch’s most important features could be put behind a paywallWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Your smartwatch’s most important features could be put behind a paywall
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Imagine you’ve just treated yourself to a shiny new smartwatch. Maybe not something as fancy as theApple Watch Ultra, but something with all the features you need: anApple Watch Series 8, perhaps, or aGoogle Pixel Watch, or aSamsung Galaxy Watch 5. Excited, you scroll through the various built-in apps – and then your watch asks you for money. If you want to unlock everything your device can do, you’ll need to pony up some cash.
Why are smartwatches offering subscriptions?
It’s easy to assume corporate greed and bad faith – which some of the responses to Mobvoi’s tweet clearly have done – but it’s more complicated than that. The lines between wearables and medical devices are getting very blurry, and medical devices are regulated in a way that normal tech products aren’t. Getting regulators' approval is very expensive, and that may leave firms with a choice: charge more up-front for their devices, potentially limiting their sales, or find another way to generate income. Mobvoi seems to have gone for the latter.
I’m in two minds about subscriptions: extreme examples such as BMW charging extra to unlock features your car already has, such as heated seats, do feel like blatant cash grabs. But tech products such as smartwatches do add more capabilities over time, and we can’t expect manufacturers to add them out of the goodness of their hearts either. Not every wearable maker has the deep pockets ofApple,Samsungor Google, and subscriptions may help smaller firms compete.
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