"Pay for new features" services

Garmin will be better than others please. 

There is a lack of interest in putting new features into older but still good devices.

I'd like to pay a SMALL monthly amount for my EXPENSIVE watch to keep it up to date. To explain.

I have a Garmin Fenix 5 plus and I am happy with them. I want to have other features like body battery (where HW is not problem)...

I understand the Firstbeat licensing, the work of the programmer and testers, hardware differences...I understand that you want sell new and new HW...So "pay for new features" service is good for both of us. Those customers who are interested will pay others not. This business model should also be introduced by phone manufacturers:-) 

What do you think Garmin? What do you think others?

Top Replies

Odie21 over 6 years ago +1

It’s not a bad idea as it has been mentioned before but unfortunately, it won’t be done anytime soon. They would rather have you buy a new watch, rather than pay $9 for an upgraded feature. It also…

All Replies

0 Odie21 over 6 years ago

It’s not a bad idea as it has been mentioned before but unfortunately, it won’t be done anytime soon. They would rather have you buy a new watch, rather than pay $9 for an upgraded feature. It also means that they have to have a whole other department to support this. Also, someone buys “x” feature installs it but then doesn’t like it...so they refund you?

Its too complicated and impossible to properly manage.

0 Patk over 6 years ago

yes ...!

0 tapuzzo over 6 years ago

It's pretty clear that Garmin considers themselves a hardware company and not a software company. They go out of their way to prevent older devices from having new features rather than the reverse.

Don't get me wrong, I do think it would be a good thing if Garmin did what you suggest, it just would be a huge pivot for them from a corporate philosophy point of view.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago in reply to tapuzzo

tapuzzo said:
prevent older devices from having new features

Interesting comment. Over the years, there's a long list of features that have been added to devices after release. Just because they don't add all the features that someone wants does not meant they don't/won't add any.

0 tapuzzo over 6 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

I stand by what I said. The simple fact that they won't include activities performed on older devices for purposes of training effect / recovery is probably more work for them than just incorporating the data into the whole ecosystem.

I think that once you buy a device with certain features, it should automatically enable the data for older devices to be incorporated.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago in reply to tapuzzo

Hmm. I wonder how these features would work on my FR305?