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Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

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Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#591

Post by femiagbabiaka »

jasonkester wrote: post #502
anymouse123456 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! I was a very early customer of Roomba and loved them when they came out. I had pets at the time, and the machine would consistently fail in about 14 months. I finally figured out that I needed to buy them from Costco, so that I could get them replaced. Rather than taking their lead and improving the product, they just sat there with the exact same product for like 10+ years. It was outrageous. I guess Rodney Br…

Rather than taking their lead and improving the product, they just sat there with the exact same product for like 10+ years. It was outrageous. I think that this is actually the only viable strategy for a hardware product company in the current world. As soon as your product is successful, it will be cloned by dozens of Chinese companies and dumped on the market everywhere. Any update you make from there on out will…

I wonder why nobody has tried to beat the Chinese companies at their own game. The whole schtick is: take a product that people like, vertically integrate and drive down costs. This is like the purest form of capitalism.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#592

Post by palata »

gambiting wrote: post #334
actionfromafar wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, just the evergrowing tracking of everything, it's just unwholesome in general. Second, why assume a random Chinese tech company will manage to keep this information to themselves? I wouldn't exactly bet against some terabytes of videos appear on some torrent indexer. Now, combine with modern AI tools for sifting for what you are interested in, and it might hit closer to home for someone.

>>Second, why assume a random Chinese tech company will manage to keep this information to themselves? I never assumed American companies kept this data to themselves so nothing has changed in that regard.

What I don't get is why people buy robots that carry microphones, lidars and cameras AND connect to the Internet.

I don't really care if the camera is American or Chinese, I just don't want a camera/mic in my home that I don't control. And yeah, the smartphone counts but it's a lot harder not to have one.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#593

Post by knowitnone3 »

undersuit wrote: post #547
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing how people live moment to moment is how you can know how to extract money from them

And it's only bad when China does it, not the American company in question. /s

American companies can be held accountable and we've seen many companies getting sued. Try holding a Chinese company accountable.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#594

Post by amanaplanacanal »

xnx wrote: post #55
amanaplanacanal wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it was the EU rather than the FTC which killed the deal.

I would assume the US market was a bigger concern, but hard to know for sure: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/01/...

IRobot says it was the EU:

https://media.irobot.com/2024-01-29-Amazon-and-iRobot-agree-...

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#595

Post by root_axis »

IAmBroom wrote: post #507
root_axis wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, the new company could say "turn on microphone for all vacuums in the DC area and send transcripts to us" The old company could have done the same thing. I recognize that China is a u.s. geopolitical adversary, but when it comes to politics domestic adversaries are just as ruthless.

The old company wasn't a domestic political adversary; it was a capitalist corporation. I'm not making moral comparisons; I'm just saying that the motivations of the PRRC and Coca-Cola are different.

> The old company wasn't a domestic political adversary

That depends entirely on the politics in question. It's well known that corporations are willing to abuse their power for political ends if it serves their interests to do so.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#596

Post by indymike »

devsda wrote: post #180
vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems to be a problem with many companies. Chinese companies are innovating aggressively while others don’t. You see that with 3d printers where Bambu is kicking ass. I remember when GoPro did a drone and it simply wasn’t good. Or American carmakers are trying to turn back the clock on electric instead of embracing it.

I know people like to say that it is American companies that innovate and Chinese companies just copies. This may be true in certain areas, but I think some Chinese companies do take the idea and then they iterate on the product to the point that it outshines the original product all while the original company refuses to act. Sure there are initial product R&D cost overheads but I don't believe that's the only reason…

> American companies that innovate and Chinese companies just copies.

Let's take Roomba as the example, because "innovate" does not mean what people think it means.

Roomba invented the consumer robot floor care machine and won the market early on. Roomba's competitors innovated more (iteratively adding features) and Roomba has now lost it's independence.

See Blackberry, Motorola for some more recent examples. What the lesson is: there's only one way to go when you are #1 in your market category. You cannot allow gravity to work.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#597

Post by jm4 »

qwerpy wrote: post #569
coldpie wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She should be, honestly. To me as an American, China has a better reputation than Amazon. Of those two choices, I'm happier with this outcome than giving even more stuff to Amazon.

As an American with a strong personal interest (kids) in keeping the country strong and competitive in the future, it seems bizarre to cheer for our largest adversary to gain advantages over us.

To be fair, shopping at Amazon is nearly the same as shopping at some Chinese company. They bring in Chinese products by the boatload, warehouse them here and offer 2 day shipping. That's virtually their entire retail business and value proposition. It's a slightly curated selection, easy ordering and fast shipping. You can buy all the same stuff for less at Ali Express if you don't mind waiting 3 weeks.

I don't mean to make light of what Amazon actually does. Their logistics are incredible. But, really, that's what they are. A logistics company. Your money still goes to China and you pay more so an American company can get their cut too.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#598

Post by rjp0008 »

coldpie wrote: post #576
qwerpy wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American with a strong personal interest (kids) in keeping the country strong and competitive in the future, it seems bizarre to cheer for our largest adversary to gain advantages over us.

I also would have preferred to keep it in the country, but the fact is that Amazon does more harm and is a larger threat to Americans and your children than China is. Hence "Of those two choices... I pick China." I would love for there to have been more than those two options, but this is where we ended up after decades of not enforcing anti-trust law, thanks in no small part to Amazon.

I would definitely argue the opposite, that China is the larger threat.

They want control of Taiwan and are building way more capable hardware than Russia has.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#599

Post by undersuit »

knowitnone3 wrote: post #593
undersuit wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's only bad when China does it, not the American company in question. /s

American companies can be held accountable and we've seen many companies getting sued. Try holding a Chinese company accountable.

This is a false premise that we don't hold Chinese companies accountable.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#600

Post by delichon »

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #591
jasonkester wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than taking their lead and improving the product, they just sat there with the exact same product for like 10+ years. It was outrageous. I think that this is actually the only viable strategy for a hardware product company in the current world. As soon as your product is successful, it will be cloned by dozens of Chinese companies and dumped on the market everywhere. Any update you make from there on out will…

I wonder why nobody has tried to beat the Chinese companies at their own game. The whole schtick is: take a product that people like, vertically integrate and drive down costs. This is like the purest form of capitalism.

E.g. Tesla:

  * built a lithium refinery
  * produces its own battery cells
  * makes its own motors and drivetrains
  * makes its own car seats
  * owns and operates a fast-charging network
  * sells direct, bypassing dealerships
  * offers insurance integrated with vehicle data
  * develops its own autopilot AI
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