Logitech has come up with a unique strategy where in it slashed the rates of its Revue set-top box to almost one-third of its existing pricing. This set-top box is powered by Google TV. Logitech’s CEO, Guerrino De Luca made a statement in which he said that the earnings of this section was quite poor and the decision of slashing the rates to 99.99 USD from 249 USD was because there were no real takers for the set-top boxes. He continued saying that the set-top box wasn’t performing well, which seemed to be more or less an understatement.
This slashing was nothing less than a bomb which blasted with Luca’s comments all over. The company has been struggling from the said section and this is not the first time it has chose to slash it s price for Revue. Couple of months back, the set-top box was revalued to 249 USD from its actual price of 299 USD. The price was lowered earlier which didn’t help the company’s cause and this slashing might change the scenario for the time being. But would it have a long lasting effect, we will have to wait and watch for that.
There was even a confirmation from the company’s end to Engadget via an e-mail. In the e-mail, Logitech said that the prices have been already slashed and the price reduction is being displayed all over the company’s website. There was yet another discloser from the company’s end which clarified that “returns for Logitech Revue were greater than sales.” The reference here for ‘returns’ was for the returns relating to the boxes being returned from the retailers and distributors. They were still happy that there weren’t returns made from customers who have purchased it.
The company’s claim surely shows that the post-purchase containment for the buyers is good. But looking at the other point made by the company, where it says that distributors and retailers have made returns, it is a serious concern as buyers will buy set-top boxes from these mediators only and for customers to buy Revue, these mediators should have stock of them too.
The price reduction is quite dramatic and there is still no confirmation that would it get the desired response from the buyers or no. Reason being that it faces stiff competition from Roku box and the famous Apple TV. Logitech however looks confident this time as it claimed that the upcoming update which is due in the summer, would be added to Revue automatically. This update would be a Version 2 update which would grant access to the Android market and even have a user interface which would be simplified.
Looking at the prospective of Google TV, there is yet another blow. Google TV has always made big promises to come up with improvements. But looks like its home theater domination option is blown out and this sounds terrible for Google TV.