The plan would be to sue anyone that sells competing pods.
Theyāre very good for places where people will randomly but infrequently want a single cup of coffee. My mechanic has one, and while theyāre not the worldās best coffee, they are far better than a pot thatās been sitting for who knows how long.
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If you judge a device based on what their competitorās products behave like, youāre doing it wrong.
To assume intelligence on the part of oneās customer base seems like a risky proposition.
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I make pancakes out of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. Iāve used both the original type (where you add milk and eggs and a dash of salt or whatever) and the āCompleteā premix (where you just add water), and I canāt tell the difference between the finished products, so I go with the Complete premix. It doesnāt always save that much time and labor, but I have had a time or two when I wanted pancakes in the morning and found myself out of eggs or low on milk, and that was a bummer without the Complete premix.
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Youāve made my day with that GIF, Jardine.
Though, with the cigarettes, thatās more a picture of my dad than me. Dad was a Navy vet from WWII, so heād picked up the habit of really strong coffee from late night watches at sea. One time when our family was heading off for a weekās camping, he forgot to unplug and empty the almost-full electric coffee-pot. By the time we got back home, the contents had simmered down to a syrupy sludge. When a dollop of evaporated milk was poured in, the dollop curdled up into a lump and floated to the top of the coffee. Dad drank it anyway.
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I have one. Single, white, working-class. I bought it as a gift to myself when I bought my house a few years ago. I am the only coffee-drinker in my house, entertain only occasionally, and felt it would be something that would pay for itself in the money saved by moderating my coffee consumption. Plus, Iām a low-spoons person, even more so first thing in the morning. Win!
I burned through the sampler pack it came with, bought another, and quickly felt the guilt of throwing all that plastic away. I got one of the Keurig-brand refillable cups, and it pretty much stunk. A bit of research later, I bought a pair of the Ekobrew cups. Much better design, easy to clean.
Is it the best cup of coffee ever? No, of course not, but choosing my own grounds improves the cup I get tremendously. Is it quick, convenient, and mess-free? Yes. I like the thing, Iām glad I bought it, itās served me well in its function.
Will I upgrade to a newer model, after hearing about these shenanigans? Fuck no. I may have to start looking into this newfangled Aeropress all the kids are talking aboutā¦
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If you actually follow the links, it doesnāt look like they are using copyrightable DRM at all. Wired simply says that ā[t]he approach has been compared to DRM restrictions that limit the sharing of digital music and video online,ā while The Verge piece they link to, in turn, says āSo to ensure consumers stick with its own K-Cups moving forward, Green Mountain is implementing the physical equivalent of a DRM system with Keurig 2.0ā.
Whether the āDRMā is enforceable as a matter of copyright law is likely besides the point (just as it currently is with printer ink): itās really an exercise in price discrimination. Those consumers who are willing to pay more to have official pods that are guaranteed to work well will. Those who are willing to use generic, āhacked,ā or unofficial pods at a lower price and possibly of lower quality will also do so, while simultaneously taking advantage of a cheap coffee-maker/printer that was sold at a discount in order to encourage sales of official pods/ink. Those willing to spend more do, while those who arenāt willing to do so save even more.
We have one at home. The one use that we have found is essentially one of laziness. Generally when both of us wake up we are so brain dead that the simple act of making the morning cup of Joe can prove to be too challenging. so we tend to make a quick Keurig cup to wake us up enough to give us the mental acuity to make an actual pot of "realā coffee.
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Everyone in my house likes something different. I like tea, Mr. Bells takes his coffee black, and our daughter is only supposed to have decaf. When Iād make a pot in the morning most of it got thrown away and I was tired of cleaning it out every day (sometimes twice if we had decaf too)
That being said, Iāll hang onto this old Keurig as long as I can to avoid whatever stupid DRM they come up with.
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My god, what a prescient cartoon. My wife and i are both self employed and work from home. we are unrepentant smokers and definitely take the quantity over quality approach to coffee. A day in which we drink less than four pots can be considered and āslow day at the officeā. 
For those discussing the possibility of a āphone homeā approach hereās something to consider; Rogue Coffee Key Management Server anyone?
Well, thereās this:
Apparently 1/3 of Michelin starred restaurants are using the nespresso pod based coffee makers instead of hand made espresso.
Based on that, and to save money from stopping at a coffee shop for a $4 cappuccino twice a day, I bought a Keurig and a milk frother, and I think the result is pretty good. For sure this is a lot cheaper than the coffee shop, since pretty much anything would be.
There are more eco-friendly pods available with far less plastic, theyāre cheaper too.
Of course then DRM spoils everything. But it just seems there are so many ways around this, itās going to be tough going for Keurig. I hope they waste all their shareholder value on this foolās errand.
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So many comments!! Boingerās love their coffeeā¦
Turning to DRM is a likely sign that Keurig is out of other ideas on how to innovate.
Some market numbers are showing pod based coffee sales growing from $130M in 2008 to over $3B in 2013. That is no small hill of beans!
Undoubtedly with that much money, an epic battle is brewing. A multi $B opportunity will attract lots of competition, and surely Kās shareholders are asking management, āHow are you doing to defend our market share?ā.
DRM! Thatās how! We have no better ideas for how to make our customers delighted and therefore loyal, so letās sue the bastards trying to take them away from us! Thatās going to be a lot easier than actually having to be clever.
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I will confess to owning and occasionally using a Flavia single-cup machine. It is called to service whenever:
- Iām out of regular coffee -or-
- I have a visitor who I know isnāt into my preferred syrupy-thick, obsidian-dark coffee -or-
- My brain isnāt really up for the whole bean dance and just needs a quick fix
The coffee it produces is actually not all that bad. I mean, itās brown, itās warm, it tastes coffee-like, it has caffeine. Brewing consists of clipping a packet in the dispenser and punching a button. Cleanup consists tossing the spent packet. Whatās not to like?
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