by gapo on 10/26/21, 2:15 PM with 130 comments
by zwaps on 10/26/21, 7:56 PM
Many of these features were free up until now. Yes, we get grandfathered in, for now, but you gotta agree to a new TOS which I am sure makes this a time limited offer if they so choose.
These niche devices need their community, people who are not only taking a lot of notes, drawing a ton or annotating many pdfs, but are willing to invest in this particular platform.
These people you probably want on your side as a company. And yet, look at this lackluster announcement.
Who is to read this and come away with a positive opinion? Current users don’t gain anything that wasn’t already free or announced. They just face the danger of eventually having to pay for what they thought was free. And new users? 8 bucks for yet another cloud storage and little else.
I mean, I appreciate that we now teach revelation principle and two part tariffs in intro econ and mba classes, but you can also blow it in other ways, exhibit A: this announcement.
by mikestew on 10/26/21, 8:13 PM
I've recently been trying to talk myself into a remarkable. Now I don't have to. Thanks, Remarkable.
by paxys on 10/26/21, 5:04 PM
by monkmartinez on 10/26/21, 4:24 PM
At this point, I am 100% OneNote and a physical paper notebook. I use OneNote on every single device I own including a Raspberry Pi. I use the handwriting features of OneNote with an iPad pro to sketch ideas while researching. I can also keep handwritten todo's for bigger projects organized with OneNote. I use klipper from my Desktop and Laptop to capture websites into OneNote books all organized by topic. I can get these on my iPhone and iPad. My garage houses my CNC and 3D printers running on Raspberry Pi's. I can look up settings and configurations for my machines inside the notebooks and modify them as needed or just copy and paste from notebook to commandline... all sync'ed to EVERY.DEVICE.I.OWN with a browser or native support in most cases.
These walled gardens are sooooo tired. My paper notebook is the backup and used when I want to sketch or think without distraction from the internet's ubiquitous pull. I take pictures and post those notes into OneNote every now and then to develop the idea further. OneNote on the iPhone makes that super simple and the friction is literally two clicks.
Sometimes, my handwriting will be legible enough to strait OCR into a notebook! I find the OCR to be remarkable for most things, but its not perfect and fails too. However, the whole ecosystem is very much worth the price!
by jmacd on 10/26/21, 4:23 PM
I received the email a few days ago telling my that those cloud based services, which were advertised as part of the product when we purchased it, would be switching to a subscription service.
Thew new service appears to be offered for FREE to us because we already purchased the devices. Phew!
That said, I think this is going to tank their sales going forward. The TCO on the device has now increased dramatically.
by vtail on 10/26/21, 6:53 PM
Yet I think the linked page is an example of a terrible marketing: instead of highlighting the benefits of the premium service, they are emphasizing how horrible your user experience will be if you don’t buy one.
Regardless of your stance on their pricing action, that’s a grave marketing mistake. I hope they will fix that.
by Tsiklon on 10/26/21, 4:51 PM
Personally I’m on the fence about it, I got my remarkable 2 last year and I’ve been very pleased with all the updates and features they’ve added to it, I’m also pleased that existing purchasers and users are grandfathered in to the new plan.
What I’m less enthusiastic about is for the potential of new features being exclusive to a higher tier plan than the grandfathered connect plan.
I’m less enthusiastic about recommending the system to new users as well because of the initial expense of the tablet and the ongoing increased costs to ownership that new users will face.
I know many creative types who would love to use this solution, but the expense of the subscription on top of the cost of the device means that it’s prohibitively expensive for them.
I wish remarkable well with this venture because it was probably a difficult choice to make, the risks of potentially closing the door on some new users must have potentially outweighed the revenue gains on new customers. It can’t have sat well with everyone at the organisation, given how they’ve been so good with new features and updates to both versions of the hardware.
by tenpoundhammer on 10/26/21, 4:07 PM
I dug in deep to find the prices so others don't have to. Personally, I'm fine with this model a lot of the great features are probably supported by doing compute in the cloud and there are also huge advantages to having storage in the cloud.
by AstroDogCatcher on 10/26/21, 4:02 PM
Not everything needs to be a subscription. I don't care about your cloud storage (in fact, I would prefer to just use my own), and the other "features" should be table stakes for something which costs so much to buy in the first place.
by krzkaczor on 10/26/21, 5:16 PM
You simply can't beat open ecosystem like android with some proprietary crap (unless you're FAANG). Having chrome browser fully in-sync with desktop one is a killer feature for me.
by kweks on 10/26/21, 4:49 PM
Worth mentioning that they have given lifetime access to existing customers, but I had been planning on giving devices to staff at the end of the year, this announcement has significantly cooled my enthusiasm.
If Remarkable staff are reading and are willing to extend the lifetime offer to existing clients for new purchases, feel free to speak up..
by exyi on 10/26/21, 5:14 PM
by dabedee on 10/26/21, 4:59 PM
Dear reMarkable customer,
We’re excited to be launching Connect, our brand new subscription service.
Connect replaces our existing cloud service and its associated features moving forward.
We want to offer all our existing customers full free access to Connect. Our way to thank all of you for believing in us right from the start.
All you need to do is log in to My reMarkable to view and accept our new terms and conditions.
Accept new terms and conditions
To ensure you can continue storing all your notes in the cloud, using our desktop and mobile apps, and enjoying features such as Handwriting conversion and Send by email, please accept our new terms and conditions.
Your free access to Connect includes all new launch features, such as integration with Google Drive and Screen Share, and applies regardless of if you own a reMarkable 1 or 2.
by dredmorbius on 10/26/21, 5:10 PM
The notion of a Linux-based tablet was appealing. I hugely dislike Android. However I purchased an Onyx BOOX with 64 GB onboard storage. It is a fairly customised Android build (and largely de-Googled). This provides access to several useful apps (Firefox, Pocket, and Termux most notably), as well as built-in Bluetooth support meaning external keyboards can be used. (reMarkable supports this only through a hardware connection.)
I'd really like a viable Linux tablet. I'm keeping an eye on Pine's offerings. But reMarkable appear to be headed in an unfortunate direction.
My interpretation is that reMarkable are crippling onboard storage (much as Google have on Android devices) to drive adoption of cloud-based services, whether for surviellance (in Google's case) or subscription revenues (in reMarkable's).
by rchaud on 10/27/21, 12:28 AM
I can use Syncthing Fork on it to handle P2P file sync because I cam install Fdroid as well.
The SaaS-ification of everything in the US is just such a tragedy. Buy once, pay forever.
by NullInvictus on 10/26/21, 4:58 PM
What this also means long term is that any openness of the device is under a Damocles sword and will be actively expanded except where GPL demands it. The benefit of openness does not appear directly in a spreadsheet like a subscription service does, and if people start trying to supercede the subscription service, they will attack it.
Or just not continue it into the next iteration.
by gnicholas on 10/26/21, 5:38 PM
Could this be one of the reasons Remarkable is launching this service? Or are they just trying to get more revenue (and higher profit margins) out of their existing business?
by bborud on 10/27/21, 10:35 AM
I'm hesitant to say I want an app-store, because it implies a lot of stuff I don't want, but something like an app-store would make it a very different proposition. It would turn a single use device into a platform. It feels a bit silly to point this out in 2021. I can't say I understand the reMarkable product strategy. There is something extremely Norwegian about it: let's limit our scope to what we're comfortable with and keep ambitions in check. We Norwegians like to play it safe - so we rarely make a difference when it comes to innovation.
I've been on the fence with reMarkable since it was launched. Waiting to see which direction it would head in. I think this announcement probably means it isn't going to be a device for me.
I'm simply not looking for yet another device that requires some form of ongoing engagement (monthly payment) to merely work. I try hard to reduce the number of things sucking money out of my account whether I use them or not.
In order to justify that it would have to be on par with my mobile in terms of "importance" - and right now the reMarkable kind of struggles to beat pen and paper for me. This makes me a bit sad, because I think there is a lot of untapped potential in eInk form factors. Especially form factors that lend themselves to interactivity.
I think reMarkable needs to multiply all their ambitions by an order of magnitude or two, find funding and get to work. This announcement feels a bit like they're giving up on having ambitions.
by yuliyp on 10/27/21, 12:55 AM
It is quite disappointing that they are trying to extract value via subscriptions for what is the functionality of a piece of hardware that they advertised.
by Jhsto on 10/26/21, 5:18 PM
by Toutouxc on 10/27/21, 7:50 AM
So this made it much easier.
by madsbuch on 11/1/21, 1:10 PM
The product is sold with a feature that makes it possible to convert notes to text. This feature _only_ work when having a subscription. Ie. without a subscription the product is broken, as the advertised feature does not work.
by seanhunter on 10/27/21, 5:20 AM
by rcarmo on 10/27/21, 6:55 AM
by jtbayly on 10/26/21, 4:59 PM
by xupybd on 10/27/21, 6:38 PM
by dmitrygr on 10/26/21, 9:20 PM
I've recommended rM2 widely, and know of > 30 sales reMarkable made due to my recommendations. I will not be recommending it any longer.
by nottorp on 10/26/21, 8:22 PM
And now... they want you to pay a subscription to access your Dropbox ? I'm guessing they spent too much money on marketing so now they need to recoup it somehow.
by sterlinm on 10/27/21, 9:09 PM
I've considered splurging on one of these and resisted at $400. Nearly $800 seems like a huge stretch.
by kayodelycaon on 10/26/21, 4:50 PM
Even if I was okay with this, it makes me worry about the long term survival of the company.
For myself, I have my own backups from installing rsync with toltec. It'll be a few years (hopefully more if the hardware lasts) before I need to find an alternative.
by ThouYS on 10/26/21, 5:20 PM
by KingOfCoders on 10/26/21, 7:28 PM
by selykg on 10/26/21, 5:28 PM
Remarkable seem like the type of company that are pouring money into marketing and not much else. To their detriment.
I bought a Remarkable 2 in September. Realized I did not want it, because it was missing a core feature I needed (the ability to search hand written notes, which Goodnotes does, Remarkable does not). Remarkable sends their products via DHL. Who, separately, are an awful shipment carrier.
I called DHL, to have them return to sender (requested by Remarkable). DHL, after 2 days failed to do this... they kept trying to contact whomever had the shipment... why they can't just mark it as return to sender in their system? No one knows.
The product arrived at my doorstep, no signature, just dropped on the porch. Okay.. great. I start the return process. It took Remarkable 4 days to get this process done. First day they email with a return portal, it couldn't find my purchase. Second day they finally respond to my plea for help and send a second portal. That one worked, but the Remarkable support team are terrible and sent incorrect instructions. 3rd day I finally got it squared away and they approved my return the 4th day, which I got shipped out on the 5th day (again via DHL). Oh, and one other mark against Remarkable, they kept referring to my return as "return for replacement" instead of "return for refund" so I had to correct them about 8 times to make sure they were actually going to refund instead of send me a replacement.
It arrives at a local hub. Where it is stuck for 30 days.
During this time, I call DHL to start an investigation as to why it's stalled. They spend 4 days unable to come up with an answer. Reach out to Remarkable again, they start their own investigation and say repeatedly that it is "on it's way." Meanwhile it doesn't move.
Now DHL is only Remarkable's problem in so far as they choose who their carrier is. I didn't get to choose to send it differently. So they can't control what DHL does, but they do need to take ownership of their terrible choice. IMO anyway, it's what I'd do as customer support.
While all this is happening, I'm asking for a refund because the product seems lost in shipment. Around day 20 I ask for a supervisor.
Supervisor responds twice, first time "we're issuing your refund and you should see it in 24 hours." then an hour later "We'll immediately issue you a refund when we receive the product which you'll see in 24-48 hours after."
After day 30 the product finally arrives in Hong Kong, they said 24-48 hours for a refund. 5 days later still no refund.
I thankfully, filed a dispute and it's being taken care of now. But my advice is avoid these clowns.
The product is kind of cool, but their support is awful. Their team is inept. They can't take responsibility for their shortcomings.
This was for a return, imagine dealing with this for an in warranty repair/replacement? Ugh. Awful.
To be clear, we're nearing 45 days from original cancellation and still no direct refund from Remarkable.
by mdekkers on 10/27/21, 2:17 AM
by marifjeren on 10/27/21, 2:22 AM
by rkagerer on 10/27/21, 1:42 PM
by nicolaslem on 10/26/21, 7:05 PM
by wtf77 on 10/26/21, 6:24 PM
by mushufasa on 10/26/21, 4:53 PM
1. How long is the term of the 'free' offer for existing users? No term is specified. Does that mean they will attempt billing (or cutoff service) after a year?
2. What exactly will happen to the existing online services, and when? They mention this is a transition but there's no timeline. Is this a new platform from scratch or just a paywall on what already exists?
by leff_f on 10/26/21, 5:03 PM
by kfprt on 10/26/21, 6:03 PM