Thursday, May 22, 2008

ESPN "Ultimate" Remote Control: Great Moments In Stupid Cross-Branding


I was going to take a pass on the foofrah surrounding the release of the ESPN branded "Ultimate" remote control, simply because it's just so preposterous, I figured that if I ignored it, it would go away on its own.*




Wi-Fi, but not Bluetooth = Fail.


The company that OEM'ed this abomination shall remain nameless, because not only should they be ashamed of themselves, but because normally they do good work.


But don't take it from me, listen to what a savvy potential end-user has to say:




This device does not incorporate any cutting-edge technology, nor does it perform significantly better than existing offerings to compell consumers to make the switch from competing products or combinations thereof. What is the competitive advantage besides the ESPN branding? Great, you can "surf" the interwebs on your universal remote, whoohoo! Because I couldn't switch to ESPN News (or any other ESPN channel), get the scores on my laptop (which is on my lap), cellphone, etc, etc. At best, the Ultimate Remote is a jack of all trades, master of none, and is a stunning example of a product that should have never been made in the first place. I'm calling my shot right now, the Ultimate Remote will meet with the same fate as ESPN Mobile, and, may very well get pulled from the market in even less time (>1year) than its older brethren.

Enough said. Nothing to see here, move along.





*It probably will anyway, so no harm, no foul.

Sphere: Related Content

No comments: