ReMarkable closes funding at a $1B+ valuation after selling 1M devices | Hacker News Reader

ReMarkable closes funding at a $1B+ valuation after selling 1M devices

techcrunch.com

45 pointschurchill8 comments

Glad to hear that they're enjoying some growth and success but it's concerning to see them openly state their significant dependence on their subscription service as a revenue stream. That raises the possibility of less support in future firmware updates for allowing Remarkable 1/2 to operate as a standalone device sans cloud service.

One thing I wish companies would do is commit to open-sourcing the software in case of service shutdown or company bankruptcy. Then, at least we could hope that someone in the community either maintains it (or ideally even offers a commercial service with equivalent features.)

It can be tricky if they don't have the rights to release source code or binaries for their hardware components, unfortunately.

Agreed. I would never want to use a device that requires a proprietary cloud sync service. I own a Boox device, which are similar to the Remarkable ones, except it has a front light for reading. The software generally works fine. I don't use their sync service due to privacy concern though; I just use Syncthing.

Right, so that's why they added the truly awful subscription service.

I'm a long-time tablet proponent & user. I bought & received a ReMarkable2 about 3 weeks ago, and so far it's my favorite purchase in years.

I purchased the ReMarkable 2 a few months ago and I can maintain that it is the most useful computing device I've purchased since my first smartphone over a decade ago. It feels like "upgraded paper". There is a little clunk around the UX but honestly with the writing and reading experience it doesn't really matter.

I placed an order yesterday for 50 spare "marker tips" just in case the company ever went under, but it seems like that worry may be misplaced! I'll likely be a long-time purchaser of ReMarkable products.

The remarkable is hands down the best e-ink tablet on the market. For reading, writing, and syncing with my laptop - it does everything I want perfectly but their recent subscription play (a la SaaS) just doesn't sit well with me.

I understand remarkable needs long-term revenue to sustain their vision but companies like Apple has proven you don't need a subscriptions nightmare to develop good hardware.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com