It's great if you
- need the equipment for the next trade fair or vacation and give them back after that
- know you will switch to the latest model that will come out in 6 months but need something until then
- are a cash-strapped startup and are fine with paying extra as long as you don't have to provide money upfront
Especially the last category might be a major market.
> - are a cash-strapped startup and are fine with paying extra as long as you don't have to provide money upfront
This is where the legitimate value of VPS and cloud computing for early startups.
The price premium (i.e. a multiple, rather than merely a percentage) is comparable. That implies a high degree of waste/risk with unused/unreturned inventory is baked into the price.
What I have yet to read, when reading about this benefit, is what happen when the startup is no longer cash-strapped. In practice, I've seen many remain "fine with paying extra", with the benefit being not having to transition to the cheaper option. It's a subtle form of lock-in.
This service, however, appears to be aimed at consumers and only considering B2B in the future, so perhaps it's all academic.
Everything else just seems like its not a worthwhile investment. Either the item offers next to no value short term (speakers) or offers little value because I can window shop it at a store (Laptop, ipad, phones, etc)
Also, I wouldn't want to rent a macbook pro either. Especially considering how awful the keyboard layout & lack of legacy ports are for 2016,2017, and 2018 editions are compared to 2015. You'd probably won't get a choice in what edition you get, that'd be really hard to track
I can definitely see some younger millenials buying into this. Getting new shiny tech is always a hot conversational topic, but older generations I can't see this flying by.
For example, I run a digital agency, and we're 100% mac based for everyone. I would definitely consider renting a super top of the line windows laptop and trying it out as my primary machine for a month or two to see how it compares. I'm not committed to the concept so I don't want to pay a lot of money, but comparing an entry level PC to my top of the line MBP is a pointless exercise.
There are lots more examples, you could think of dozens. Like I want to see if I would use a drone much after the first week or two if I had one. And on and on and on.
I'm not convinced they're going to thrive as a business, but at least as a basic concept the premise isn't ridiculous.
If your rental cost goes 3 months beyond the retail price, you'll own the devices.
I basically do the same thing now with my iPhone X through Apple's subscription plan.