make our house another subscription

The new era of Google Home arrives. Google’s home automotic and domestic platform has the absolute protagonist of Gemini, which will now be integrated into speakers, smart screenscameras and bells connected to supervitaminate them. The problem? That now the hardware will not make much sense without a subscription to the associated services.

Why is it important. Google is a company absolutely focused on offering software and especially services, but so far its monetization model was advertising. With ia we are attending an increasingly strong transition To another model: that of subscriptions.

Your home as recurring income. Google is abandoning the “purchase the device and is already” to convert every corner of your home into a recurring income. Before the Google Home speakers joined the Google assistant and you could use them without paying a separate subscription. Now hardware is the excuse for subscription.

Amazon proposes the same. The launch of this platform coincides with the renewal of the catalog of intelligent devices of the family of Amazon, who now nourish from New Alexa+ Assistant. Although this service is not yet available in Spain, the firm led by Andy Jassy wants to pursue exactly the same: you pay for the product, then pay for using it through a monthly subscription.

He Timing It is no accident. Gemini’s arrival at the Google Home Family devices is an obvious way to monetize all the investment that the company is doing in its models and AI infrastructure. In addition, inference costs are there, and you have to begin to make them profitable. On the web we still have free accounts that give a lot of room for maneuver for light use: in these devices that margin seems to disappear.

AI as segmentator. Google thus raises a new reality in which AI turns a product into something premium. This technology is the perfect excuse to segment markets and Offer first and second class experiences: With your product you will win many integers, without Ia you are anchored in the past.

Subscription fatigue returns. This new Google subscription service adds to a world conquered absolutely for this model. Although the option is reasonable as a way to compensate both users and service suppliers, the problem is that There are so many subscriptions that the amount dedicated to paying them begins to be prohibitive.

The ecosystem trap. And of course there is that power that these closed ecosystems have, which work very well but that take advantage of that dependence that we end up having to force us certain extras in the form of subscriptions. Once you have five Echo or Nest devices, change them for another platform becomes expensive.

Careful. This could be a shot in the butt for Google. Forcing users to pay if they want to get the most out of their devices can stop the adoption of these solutions. Who will pay a subscription of 10 dollars and then use your speaker to ask you time or ask you to put your favorite artist’s last song? This type of service seems to be very oriented to “friquis” of home automation that will take advantage of those options … but those same enthusiasts They usually try to access those same options without payingfor example through Open Source solutions.

Thread and Matter’s unknown. And meanwhile, we attend a situation in which Interoperable standards –Thread, Matter– They may not serve much. Subscriptions destroy that future theoretical they sold us, and fragment the market with these new payment walls. They may not do it so much if Gemini ends up being something like “the Android of the speakers.” However, it is still very soon to know how a market that had stagnated and that with AI can be very benefited. If you pay for those benefits, of course.

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