A Tale of Two Software Updates

We live, increasingly, in a world of integrated hardware and software. The most obvious example for most is your phone: without the software, it’s a (probably) black slab sitting there doing nothing. There’s not even any buttons anymore. It’s not a question of which is more important–the hardware is useless without the software.

A couple of recent updates in my life brought this to the forefront with very different results: I have a bunch of Sonos speakers in the house–they drive most of my listening, particularly in summer when I’m outside. I also have a Breville Joule sous vide circulator–the first generation, not the Turbo. Both companies issued big software updates recently, and the results couldn’t be more different.

Sonos has, famously, updated their app and it was very frustrating for a few weeks. They bungled it. The Sonos app has never been that great (seriously, hire a designer guys…it feels like it was designed by engineers) but it got way worse. The company’s reputation right now isn’t great. I personally think Sonos should licence their speaker-to-speaker matrix and let other people build around the tech, but what do I know about it? Anyway, it was bad. A few weeks later and we seem to be back to a more or less stable place, but it begs the question “Why the update in the first place?”

Breville, on the other hand, released a new app and it couldn’t have been better. Ok, they could have done it more quickly–the Turbo was introduced, and they introduced a new app and basically said “Hey, all you existing customers, we’re keeping the old app and turning the icon grey.” Literally. It sort of sucked.

The app was slow, and painful. It would take forever to connect via Bluetooth, notifications worked…sometimes. WiFi connections never worked. I was getting frustrated with the thing (and normally? I love it.)

Cut to about 18 months later and a new apps comes: Breville+, supporting multiple devices including my now three year old Joule. Snappy and quick Bluetooth connections suddenly happened immediately. Out for a walk while your steak is cooking–check the status no problem. I didn’t spend a dollar, but my Joule was like a whole new product and I couldn’t be happier.

So, the lesson here? Watch the whole board. The Joule hardware was great, but when the software started to suck it was frustrating. Sonos hardware remains great, but the software is pushing a bunch of people in a different direction. Ignore one of them at your peril–your reputation may depend on it.

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