A growing craze in America over the past few years has been the single serve coffee cup. Companies like Keurig, Tassimo, and Nespresso have created a new market for in home coffee brewing. Simply use a small amount of grinded coffee beans, in the form of a "pod", and in under thirty seconds a piping hot coffee is ready. With the popularity of such coffee makers continually growing, companies that make the Keurig brand products are looking for ways to hold onto their dominance in the market.
For these companies, selling their coffee machines is not enough to turn large profits. Instead, just like a computer printer, getting the device into the home is but a gateway to the cash cow: the pods. However, third party competitors know this fact all too well and in recent years have made their own competitive coffee pods, often retailing for 5-25% less than what Keurig charges. The general public tends to resort to these lower costing pods as a mean to cut their costs. Further, reusable pods have entered the market as well but tend to cost much more than either Keurig or third party developers.
Keurig believes it has found its' solution against their competitors. Come the fall, "Keurig 2.0" will be launched. All machines that fall under this new production line will incorporate a DRM policy so that only Keurig coffee pods can be used in the maker. Rival companies, especially third party pod makers, have cried foul of this approach, saying it offers no consumer benefit and intends to serve anticompetitive ends and can not be justified to lock out [them].
Keurig's business plan was confirmed by their CEO who stated it was part of an effort to deliver "game changing performance." The companies twitter account has answered several complaints and questions on the message board, stating "Our Keurig 2.0 brewer will deilver new interactive-enabled benefits which will require it to identify the inserted pack." Why our coffee makers need new "interactive" benefits and what functions they could serve is beyond me. Maybe while your thirty second cup of joe is brewing you can check your facebook or remotely start your car's engine. Perhaps the "Keurig 2.0" will talk to us, promising your taste buds their deepest desires. Whatever the new machines features are, one assuredly it won't have is the option of competition.
Hearing about the DRM feature of Keurig's new line of coffee makers at first aggravated me. I am not a fan of DRM, at least in the contexts I have been exposed to. But then I thought about the bigger picture. Keurig is worried about it's profits and consumer base and wanted a way to hold onto their fortunes. I can understand why they tried to think outside of the box to keep their consumers buying their products. However, my views on where the company can go with these restrictive features must be different from theirs. I believe people want choice, whether that choice is good or bad or the same doesn't matter, just so long as they have a choice. Making people only use Keurig's products seems like a bad business move when alternatives are readily available. I foresee more coffee maker sales to go to Keurig's competitors than with Keurig. Luckily, any Keurig not part of their "Keurig 2.0" initiative won't have the restricting DRM feature, leaving you open to whatever mediocre coffee you want.
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