Buying a gadget can be a risky business these days. We’ve already seen two ways things can go wrong. The first and most obvious is when a company takes your money and then goes bust before it can deliver. Otto locks was just one recent example – crowdfunding sites are littered with others.
A second risk is a company discontinuing support for a gadget that relies on an app or a server. When the app is discontinued, or the server goes offline, you can be left with a useless hunk of metal. A recent example of that was Logitech discontinuing its Harmony Link remotes, informing owners that the products ‘will no longer function’ beyond March 16 of this year. (Consumer and media pressure did at least result in a solution.)
But Nokia has just shown us a third way for a gadget purchase to go wrong after the event …
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