back to article Keurig to drop coffee DRM after boss admits 'we were wrong'

Coffee machine maker Keurig's attempt to lock customers into its proprietary K-Cup coffee pods was a failure, the firm's CEO has admitted, and the company is dropping the practice. "Quite honestly, we were wrong," boss Brian Kelley told analysts after Keurig's latest quarterly results were released, the Washington Post reports …

  1. Dan Paul

    Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

    Just make a whole pot of coffee for cripes sake. If the coffee is any good, it will be gone before you get a second cup. Get the flavors in a pump bottle if you need your hazelnut.

    Too much waste comes from these damn pods anyway.

    Keurig made it impossible to use your own coffee, someone comes up with an alternative refillable pod, they prevent that just like HP with printer cartridges and now Keurig acts all remorseful. Too late, too bad.

    Screw them, make real pots of coffee in a real coffee maker and cut them out of the market entirely.

    1. Kernel

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      "Just make a whole pot of coffee for cripes sake."

      Some of us take our coffee a little more seriously than that - however, that said, I won't be wasting time with any crappy pod originated coffee either.

    2. petur

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      Or get a machine that takes beans and water, and grinds just enough to make you a perfect cup. Granted, there's more cleaning/maintenance involved than the manufacturer wants you to believe, but it's about as good as a traditional espresso

      1. Zacherynuk

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        I've got one of them grinder jobbies. Add water add beans, Press button coffee comes out. Can use powdered coffee too (it has a 'no grind' button') use it all day then put the bit in the dishwasher.

        In practice though I only use it when having a cooked breakfasts and/or guests over - it's nice n all but 2+ cups makes mom's spaghetti and frankly, I quite like the massive tubs of instant I get from Costco. £10 lasts me 2 months!

        IMHO unless you take your coffee black, then posh gold (or better still, unpasteurised milk) makes more of a difference than the bean. - or whatever is in them 'pods'

        Also what a bloody waste of packaging, even makes HP look ok.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        I bought a super-automatic espresso machine and I calculated that it costs about 10 cents per cup of coffee. Compared to 50 cents per K-cup or $2.50 per Starbucks the machine pays for itself in a matter of months (at 100 espressos per month). I'm not talking the megabux machines, only the basic one for $300. The payback doesn't factor in that the coffee tastes like something you'd actually want to drink (I think K-cups generally taste like Krap.)

        It seems that the Keurig machines have high breakdown rates. Not very convenient if your machine is down and you have to run out to buy another machine for $130.

        I do understand that people buy them for the perceived convenience, but these are the same people that don't know their way around a kitchen and think that frying an egg requires some sort of wizardry.

        Come on people, this is the classic "razor and blades" business model. But I find that people are generally pretty bad at math any more so they can't get around the concept.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

          "I do understand that people buy them for the perceived convenience..."

          You're ill-equipped to engage in a debate on the subject if you can't identify another equally important unique selling point.

          I'll give you a hint. They sell racks and drawers that go beside or under your coffee pod machine. These racks hold a couple of dozen coffee pods. Do you think that they'd typically all be the same type of coffee? Or dozens of different varieties on hand in the kitchen and pantry. How practical is it to have dozens of different coffee varieties on hand if you're buying them all by the pound.

          Frankly, by your quoted thought, you haven't even understood one of the most basic USPs of the controversial system. A common oversight by critics of the concept.

    3. ZSn

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      Having just bought a Moka pot I found that this makes better coffee than most machines short of a real 9 atmosphere pressure 'real' expresso machine. All for €20. Bit impratical for work, however at home it's certainly better than this overpriced tat.

    4. thomas k.

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      If you don't want a whole, big pot, Mr Coffee (and others, probably) makes a little 4 cup model.

      You can also use it to make tea, just throw a couple of tea bags in the basket. Might want to get a second basket for that, though.

      1. Dan Paul

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        I agree with the quantity but not the manufacturer. "Mr Coffee" is not anyone I would associate with good coffee for the specific reason that their normal type of filter (Flat bottom) can't make good coffee. Krups and Braun used to make 4 cup units that took Melitta type filters.

        You could also get a single cup Melitta filter (Vee type) holder that goes on any container and just pour hot water from a kettle into it. Would work work for any tea as well.

        Since coffee is so personal a choice, everyone has an opinion. As such, none of them are really wrong, just different.

        Vive la difference!

    5. InMyHead

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      Because I am the only one in my house who drinks coffee and my state is in the biggest drought in recorded history. If I were to make a pot of coffee at home, I would end up wasting over half of it due to not drinking it. And no, I do not drink reheated coffee!

      1. joed

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        and if only water used for drinking was significant to your drought problem. Bathroom use - possibly will show on the radar (if you tried hard enough). The biggest offenders are residential irrigation (complete waste), then industry and agriculture (these at least provide produce something useful).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

          @joed

          It's pretty common for people to address major issues (e.g. California drought) by starting at the infinitesimal and insignificant end of the priority list (e.g. a wasted cup of coffee).

          It's a cognitive defect that is incredibly widespread.

          Now, excuse me while I go save the world by replacing the light bulb in my fridge with an LED bulb. LOL

      2. Dan Paul

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        Who said you had to buy only a 12 cup unit? I only said to make a whole pot of coffee. So get a small coffee maker. The reason they have graduations on the side is to make less than a full pot. Obviously the need for coffee varies from person to person. The smallest 4 "cup" pot only ever made two mugs of coffee anyway.

        All of the single serve units I have tried never made a "rich" cup anyway, they make weak coffee tea. The only one worth the powder to blow it to hell was a custom Italian job that was in a little motel in Maulberg, Germany where I stayed for business with E&H in 2006. I don't remember the manufacturer's name. It took regular beans and did all the magic inside. You could have bought a nice car for what the owner paid for it.

        BTW, I have a french press, espresso machine, espresso pot for the gas stove, 4 or 12 cup unit for everyday & company, etc, etc. I used to have a grinder combo machine but I let the smoke out of it years ago.

        If you like coffee with booze, try this: 3 shots of Bushmills dumped into the grounds of a Melitta filter type coffee maker, 8 to 10 teaspoons of your favorite poison, leave the pot out of the unit so the grounds have time (say 10 minutes) to absorb the Bushmills, then brew the coffee.

        Two cups of that will wake a deadman and make him dance a jig.

    6. joed

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      I'll add another argument for ordinary coffee pot. The ease of use. Family member "upgraded" to newer Keurig's crap (old was was actually usable). DRM or not, I was able to load it with reusable cap (though it resulted in some internal spill eventually, just to add to aggravation). That thing was like trying to program VCR (with no TV connected) and I had no manual (manual for coffee pot, wtf;). The fancy display, water filter and "convenient" cup. I got some coffee out of it (lets say a shot too little) but what a hassle.

      And all I needed was one button operation, Start and let it drip until the water is gone. All these wasted R&D $. But suckers will pay.

    7. Hyper72

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      I used to have an espresso machine and a bialetti; there was something special about the ritual of making a cup on that spluttering little thing.

      So I would agree with you in general but then 6 years ago I broke my neck. As a quadriplegic I'm unable to handle these devices safely and was stuck with heating a cup of water in the microwave and add a semi foul (Nescafé) powder. I then discovered keurig, as long as somebody fills it with water I can put in a pod and cup and make real coffee any time.

      So, I for one, admittedly a special case, enjoy my keurig to make coffee, cup noodles or just an easy cup of hot water for tea.

      TL;DR: For things, like pod coffee or WeMo switches that may not make sense to some; there may be perfectly good use cases for others, as steady sales would suggest - and I still miss my bialetti ritual.

      1. Lee D Silver badge

        Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

        Don't know about this particular machine, but I use the coffee-pod machines because they're damn fast. Put in pod-thing, press button, boiling how water out in seconds and a cup down in under a minute, ready to drink.

        I'm not a big coffee officianado (I live with an Italian who has all the espresso stuff but it's just a bitter thimble-ful of mud to me), but I use it for hot chocolate, tea, coffee, etc. Press, cup, done. And it tastes just as good and even my girlfriend says it's good enough for her - she still makes the odd espresso from her prized coffee stock in the espresso, but it's much more common to see her just buy a particular brand of pod and stick it in the machine. Especially if she's in a rush.

        I have one in my office too. Great for visitors. Tea, coffee? There you go. Let's get down to business, no awkward hanging by the coffee machine not yet ready to get down to brass tacks and trying to talk about the weather or your favourite drink. Since I bought one, another four or five have popped up on site as people see mine (guard your pods with your life!).

        And they don't suck more electric than a kettle would, they don't have buckets of steam coming out of them (helpful in an IT environment), you can make lots of different drinks, etc. Hell, I've done a cup-of-soup in mine too, just using the hot-water from it. Convenience, basically, but on a scale better than instant coffee or whatever else.

    8. Alan Edwards

      Re: Honestly, what is wrong with an ordinary coffee pot?

      "Just make a whole pot of coffee for cripes sake"

      Fine if you drink gallons of the stuff, or have an office full of people. I'd end up with stale overheated sludge before I finished the pot.

      I'd rather use the Senseo machine to make myself one at a time. No DRM on that either, works out at about 10p a shot when you bulk-buy the pods off Amazon.

    9. Tom 13

      Re: it will be gone before you get a second cup.

      As a non-coffee drinker* (I know, that's just not American even though I'm not a Brit) I must object to this statement. All too often the smell of burnt coffee has permeated my office because someone left a pot on the warmer too long.

      *Oddly enough I love the smell of the beans when you open the can, just can't stand to drink it.

    10. Stevie

      Re: Just make a whole pot of coffee for cripes sake.

      Okay. So I miss my train while it is brewing.

      And then I have a pot of cold coffee to deal with that night, tasting nicely of the hours it sat cooling on the heat before it timed out.

      I think you missed the point of the Keurig: It makes one cup quickly and with minimum fuss and does it in remarkably few operations so you can be doing other stuff at the same time.

      Yes it is more expensive, and I know that is a prime driver for your average UK consumer. For me it is catching the train and not having to deal with the leftovers that night.

      As for the bloke who prefers instant: well, that's your right and more power to your elbow, but making instant coffee is no faster than doing so with a Keurig coffee maker, indeed, given that the Keurig usually comes with a timer and so is ready to go when I need it, instant would be slower and more labour intensive.

      That's what I'm paying for when I opt for a cup of Keurig coffee. The cost is more than covered by the time savings. I wish I had one at work. I used to be part of a coffee-pot cartel but found I was always johnny-on-the-spot when it came to making the next pot, so I dropped out.

      The DRM thing was out of order though. Any fool should have been able to see that it would be a non-starter. I'll bet there's already an Arduino-based work-around for that nonsense like there is for that "inexpensive" 3D printer that thinks its an inkjet.

  2. elDog

    Bet the Boss, Brian Kelley won't see a dip in his annual comp

    Funny how bad decisions are always taken out on somebody else. Of course the poor shareholders just lost 10% but the stock was quite inflated anyway.

    I'm off to have a drink of some real stuff.

  3. Paul Crawford Silver badge
    Happy

    Well thank $DIETY that people realised this and sent them the best answer possible - not buying a shitty locked-in product. One hopes this will be a lesson, perhaps not of Ratner-esque proportions mind you, for other businesses to take heed of.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "One hopes this will be a lesson, perhaps not of Ratner-esque proportions"

      Never assume that some manglements will learn from anything less than a Ratner-esque lesson. And one that actually happens to them.

  4. James 51

    The pod things can be handy (think the one we have is nescafé or something like that). A lot of my wife's family drink coffee but we don't. For all the times that they visit us they are handy as I couldn't make a decent coffee and the pods keep, an open jar does not.

    Have to admit I'd prefer some lose leaf earl grey. They don't have a pod for that.

    1. Crazy Operations Guy

      I use one of the "My K-Cup" units and pack it with tea leaves that have been shredded in a spice grinder. When shredded to the right size and packed correctly in the cup, the water will take just long enough to get the proper level of saturation.

      1. Terry 6 Silver badge

        Crazy Ops Guy

        That seems a lot of effort to recreate a tea bag.

  5. Tromos
    Joke

    Starbucks is surprisingly cheap...

    ...as that tastes like it's been crapped out by cats too.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Starbucks is surprisingly cheap...

      But those cats came with double venti tall caramel cinnamon cocoa adjectives.

  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Toxic ideas crawling out of greedy idiot's arses

    There should be a prize for ideas that were bad in hindsight --- but would also have been bad in foresight for anyone with an IQ above 50.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Toxic ideas crawling out of greedy idiot's arses

      If you manage to remove yourself from the gene pool in the process, then it's called a Darwin Award.

  7. dabastage

    They blame the loss of the self fill cup as what people are pissed off about. They make no mention of the fact that a bunch of other companies make coffee pods for about 1/3 the price of Keurig branded ones.

    1. Dan Paul

      Green Mountain Coffee brand

      I think that Green Mountain makes almost all of the K-Cup pods out there. What's their stock look like?

      Bet they have some guilt in this game too!

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Green Mountain Coffee brand

        Dan Paul offered "Green Mountain ...Bet they have some guilt in this game too!"

        I'll bet you're right, considering that Keurig is a brand owned by Green Mountain Coffee.

        LOL

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > We took it away because My K-Cup wasn't going to work with our new system.

    "We took it away because our new system was designed specifically to not work with My K-Cup."

    There, fixed it for you.

  9. x 7

    plastic coffee for plastic people

    1. Sgt_Oddball

      It wears me out...

    2. 404

      /disagree

      We have a Keurig VUE, which doesn't take K-cups, but VUE-style cups (which are hard to find in any case). Ordered two Solo VUE version refillable cups at the same time and haven't purchased *any* pods since we got over the novelty/expense of them.

      The best reason for a Keurig? The damn thing will make even the cheapest shite store-brand coffee taste good.

      That's a huge plus in my book.

  10. david1024
    Alert

    This should be a trend.

    Too bad the public didn't band together for other applications of DRM.

  11. Dana W

    I suppose.

    I understand the convenience of the pod coffee, the better doctors have it in their waiting rooms. But I get a growler of top quality cold press every week, so I'm not the market for one of these cofeematics. Now if i could just figure out how to get a Goblin Teasmade working on American wall current.........

    1. David 132 Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: I suppose.

      Now if i could just figure out how to get a Goblin Teasmade working on American wall current.........

      250V/60Hz circuits are available in most/all American homes - usually for electric stoves, furnaces, that kind of thing.

      Here in Oregon I bodged a UK 3-pin socket & cord onto a NEMA 6-20 plug from Home Depot, and via one of the 250V sockets in my garage can now use my UK jig-saw, kettle and cordless drill charger*. They don't seem to mind either the slight over-voltage or the difference in cycle rate.

      I'm sure any qualified sparkie reading this will be having palpitations at this point, but hey, "YOLO" as I believe the kids say...

      *-individually. Not all at once. Cos, you know, that would be tempting fate.

      1. Dana W

        Re: I suppose.

        I was told the cycle rate would throw off the clock. No matter, I live in disabled housing, no 220v here, sad to say. Pity, I'd love one like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z691h50yfQ

        1. David 132 Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: I suppose.

          Ah. Yes. I debated whether to add the caveat "...but devices that use the frequency for timing purposes will have problems"!

          I was going to give you a link to another Youtube video that shows the effect of running a teasmade on US voltage - and then realized that by incredible coincidence it's the same model as in your video!

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Zo4AVL7AE (interesting bit happens from 0:06s-->0:09s)

          [tl;dw: Queen - I Want To Break Free, official video]

          Good luck.

        2. Irony Deficient

          Re: I suppose.

          Dana W, have you looked into step-up transformers to run 230 V @ 50 Hz appliances on a 120 V @ 60 Hz grid?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I suppose.

            But the "step up" transformer will step down the available current, so check the wattage carefully. I must admit the transformer will make a very fashion forward counter top statement in the kitchen.

            1. Irony Deficient

              Re: I suppose.

              Anonymous Coward, the transformer would be for a Teasmade, so it would likely be making its fashion statement (hopefully “form follows function”) in a bedroom.

          2. Vic

            Re: I suppose.

            have you looked into step-up transformers to run 230 V @ 50 Hz appliances on a 120 V @ 60 Hz grid?

            A step-up transformer will not produce 230V @ 50Hz from any 60Hz grid...

            Vic.

          3. Pookietoo

            Re: have you looked into step-up transformers

            A straight transformer won't shift frequency - you'd need a belt drive motor-generator unit or a rectifier/inverter to do that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I suppose.

      "I understand the convenience of the pod coffee..."

      But do you understand the variety of coffee types, on hand? Your doctor's office likely has several, my car dealer has four on hand. My kitchen has about two dozen, and my pantry has several dozen.

      It's really common for people to acknowledge the convenience (often as a jab at laziness), but enabling variety is just as important a feature.

  12. Mark 85

    It had it's moment....

    I think they took the business plan for HP ink and Apple's accessories and tossed them into a blender... came up with DRM style coffee. I'm not sure who's worse here.... the people who came up with DRM coffee or the fools who invested in it.

  13. The_Idiot

    Perhaps...

    ... it's a special use case. So, perhaps, many will consider it invalid. And I apologise for the pun.

    Er - what pun?

    Ah. Right.

    You see, my wife has MS. Rather advanced, non-treatable MS. She sits in her wheelchair all day while I'm at work. The state of her muscle control and had-eye coordination is such she could no more operate a standard coffee machine, or pour hot coffee from a pre-made pot, or even boil water and add instant coffee with a tea-spoon, than she can win an Olympic Gold Medal for ice dance.

    Yes. She's invalid.

    It's a bad pun, but we laugh at it sometimes, my wife and I. Because a lot of discussions like this don't consider cases like hers. As though she is, indeed, invalid.

    No, that's not an attack on anyone here, or the discussion. People tend to consider their own use cases, just as I am in this post. But me? My wife? I won't say which model she has from which manufacturer, nor claim the beverages are the best in the world. But she loves her machine, a mug, and a convenient straw to drink it through.

    1. earl grey
      Thumb Up

      Re: Perhaps...

      Good for her. Hope she gets it like she likes it. Just tell her to be careful and no burns.

  14. asdf

    don't believe the hype

    > Kopi Luwak coffee

    Of which there is 50x more sold than can possibly be produced. Basically unless you are in Asia with contacts there is virtually zero chance that Kopi Luwak you are buying is the real thing which is good because they way they make it today (in third world) takes inhumane treatment of animals to another level.

  15. Franklin

    A company finally sees the light on DRM?

    Hooray! That's one down...now, how many more to go?

    1. asdf

      Re: A company finally sees the light on DRM?

      Well really the only major (getting to be a bit of stretch to even say that today) hardware maker that hasn't seen the light and will never see the light is Sony who just happen to be a large media company as well.

  16. Sgt_Oddball

    Hummm having owned stove tops, cafetieres, filter coffee, one of the 1st gen top of the line nesspresso machine and an aeropresso (for work natch, because it's either that or instant...*shudders*), I can say the areopresso at the moment is my favourite but the nesspresso does make a damn good espresso.

    On top of that, they do also now accept the used pods back for recycling since they're aluminum so good for that sort of thing, or you can even buy reusable pods now for them (though that kind of defeats the purpose of having coffee so conveniently at the ready).

    At any rate, they're pretty much always better than any highstreet coffee shops (with two local independents as exceptions, both grind and roast on-site can't beat it.).

    I just wish everyone would finally stick to one standard for these things and be done with it rather than making a proprietary system everytime that gets junked when demand for the pods runs short making the devices useless.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "I just wish everyone would finally stick to one standard for these things and be done with it rather than making a proprietary system everytime that gets junked when demand for the pods runs short making the devices useless."

      The problem is the market. No, not the coffee market. The financial market. More specifically, the stock brokers and financial people who influence the value of shares with the sales and purchases every time the wind changes direction. Some analyst says a company A will make $500m profit. Company A then actually reports "only" $400m profit. Shares up or down? Well obviously they "failed", so the shares go down. This means a company who are on the stock market are not only under immense pressure to grow and return more "value" for share holders, but they are under even more pressure to outperform some analysts market predictions that he pulled out of his arse not unlike certain coffee beans but more smelly.

      So, even if you make a healthy profit and have decent growth, you can still fail if you don't meet market expectations. So no company can afford to look the other way when there's the chance to lock in consumers because if they don't do it, someone else will, and that someone else might succeed.

      This why a simple, basic, cheap espresso machine is so hard to come by. No one wants to be the one selling last years model. And the new model has to be bigger, better, brasher and have more features. And cost more. And be different. And use "special" pods/capsules/whatever. (s/coffee machine/any gadget/)

      My favourite espresso machine was the first one I bought. £20 in Woolworths. Really small foot print and you got out as much coffee as water you put in (less some used for steam if you wanted frothy coffee). Now they all have tanks and pumps and barely enough pressure to make frothy milk. and you can't get a reasonable one for under £50. And they are bigger.

      TL;DR. Capitalist bastards destroyed the coffee machine industry :-)

  17. earl grey
    Flame

    glad they finally saw the light

    Although i have to admit to no desire to ever support their business model (yeah, and this old neckbeard doesn't shave, either). Anyone pissing DRM on their customers deserves to have their business model crushed.

  18. ZenCoder
    Joke

    The correct way to brew coffee!

    All coffee should be ground, tied up in flour cloth and let to cold brew triple strong in a stainless steel bowl while refrigerated for 7-9 hours. Properly stored in air-tight mason jars, cold brew coffee will taste fresh for up to 2-4 weeks.. The end result is less bitter drawing attention to the more subtle flavors. This also eliminates the need for sweeteners. You can brew coffee once and drink instantly for a month. There is no energy wasted generating heating, no disposable filters, pods, or cups. Flour cloth last for years, but only costs $1 so washing and reusing is entirely optional.

    Its can be served black or with unsweetened almond or coconut milk and ice.

    1. Dana W

      Re: The correct way to brew coffee!

      @ZenCoder I agree completely, thankfully the local coffee chain does that for me. They roast their coffee in house and grind it every day. Once I had their cold press, there was no going back. http://dunnbros.com/2010/05/17/introducing-infinite-black-cold-press-coffee/

  19. KLane

    But!

    They are NOT removing the DRM, they are making a new 'My K-Cup', and making the licensing more available. The 'unlicensed' pods you already have will still not work, as no change will be made to the machine itself.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: But!

      Exactly. At first I thought they'd fix the machines, publish instructions on how to bypass the RFID reader of offer a firmware update over USB (?). Still some tampering needed (see youtube for that).

  20. Alan Denman

    Start as you mean to go on.

    The suckers buying UK DRM coffee machines know no different and seldom do I hear them complain.

    So their only mistake was being a bit open to start with.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's not just the little basket thing

    The previous Keurigs would accept anything K-cup shaped and sized.

    That meant other manufacturers could make physically identical k-cups with their own coffee, and still make them nitrogen-packed [yes, they're nitrogen packed to keep coffee fresh at room temperature - I don't have to keep them in the freezer like I do my whole coffee beans]. Some third-party ones - like Death Wish coffee - are variations on the design (that one with a filter basket)

    What the fools/greedy bastarfs at Keurig failed to realize is that it was the third-party k-cups that built their coffeemaker brand.

    Other pod makers have been introduced but the popularity of the Keurig was due to the huge selection of beverages available.

    Of course peeps avoided the DRM keurig - their favorite bevs were either no longer available

  22. RW

    Like Target's failed entry into Canada

    The common factor is failure to recognize what any ordinary person could have told them: the customers will reject your bright idea. Didn't Keurig have even a glimmer of awareness that shutting out off-brand coffees from their machines would not be popular? That coffee makers are available in an infinity of models and there's lots of competition?

    As for Target-in-Canada, their stores came across as designed by someone who thought Canucks are a bunch of stupid goobers and didn't realize that Target's popularity among cross-border shoppers is due to the selection and the prices; the mere name "Target" is by itself of no significance.

    Design mistakes: no change room by the men's clothing; they expected you to walk down (or up) to another floor to use the women's change rooms. No checkouts by some doors. Only self-serve checkouts at some (and they crashed with shocking regularity). And subtle ways of trying to disconnect their stores from the rest of the malls they were located in. Never mind the empty shelves because Target-in-Canada hadn't bothered to organize its supply chain before opening.

    The overall lesson from both pratfalls is this: don't pay too much attention to bean counters and marketers who come up with a new and novel way of abusing your customers. They don't know the business.

  23. Zippy's Sausage Factory
    FAIL

    Not a response to Nestle then?

    Keurig introduces DRM.

    Nespresso (the big dogs of the market) respond... by making their system open source.

    Game, set and match Nespresso, I think.

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