I don't understand B&O, whay this high price and high-end producer is not able to deliver future prove technology at the beginning. B&O should be much more advanced than other brands and not make any MKII, MKIII.... versions at all. Or when this can not be avoided offer every customer an update for free or for a reasonable money. So every MKI product could be updated to the MKIII version.

I can not get rid of the feeling that B&O do not do enough research and therefore are forced to do so many MK versions.

That is because other brands change their models every year or so.

Instead B&O keep the design and add new technology.

But why no help for the MKI customers? For a high end price at least a possibility to update the odler products should be given.

I'm sorry but it just doesn't work like that anymore and that's why B&O find themselves in so much trouble.....

The pace of change is so great, that its impossible for B&O to keep up, let alone lead the market.....

Don't see anyone complain when Apple upgrades its computer ranges, although I do agree customers should be able to update their own software or have it done over the internet/ phone line like sky do with their boxes.  Updating a panel is completely different.
 

Yes, it is because the technology evolves so fast, that it is more visible than it used to be.

B&O does offer some upgrade path for some models.

p.

As a lot of people buy B&O for the status of ownership, it's necessary to establish the "shape of the thing" in the mind of people. If B&O changed the look of its components every year, you wouldn't get that recognition. Consider cars - Jaguars, Porsches, BMWs -- all have recognizable shapes.

Which is why B&O changes the MK -- as the technology is upgraded, what's inside the body is improved. But the shape remains.

Other A/V brands, who do not depend as much upon shape recognition for the brand status, just issue a "completely new" component (usually in an indistinct, industry standard shape/dimension).

I prefer B&O's way. With all technology, what you buy will be obsolete the moment you carry it out of the store. Which means you have to decide on what you really need, and then just ignore the march of tech development for a while. (Having bought Apple computers since the 80s, I can really attest to that!)

This sounds very reasonable, but I think at least for bigger products (such as TVs) there sshoud be an update offered for each product.

I think it would be a great selling point if B&O could guarantee a kind of free-upgrade program with each high end product. For instance: If you could get the guarantee that a BV7 would be future proof for let's say the next 3 years; in other word: at the end of the 3 year period you would be able to switch your telly for a up to date version free of charge.

This might sound crazy, but would be a great selling feature and would draw quite a lot of potential buyers over the edge. This would justify a bit more spending 10kEuro on a telly!

Regards,

Bieele 

Bieele:

 at the end of the 3 year period you would be able to switch your telly for a up to date version free of charge.

What?

Bieele:

 This might sound crazy,

Yes!

Bieele:

 but would be a great selling feature and would draw quite a lot of potential buyers over the edge. This would justify a bit more spending 10kEuro on a telly!

And how much do you think a BV7 would cost if it was included a free upgrade to new TV after 3 years?

Stop!!   I don't wanne know

Daniel:

Bieele:

 at the end of the 3 year period you would be able to switch your telly for a up to date version free of charge.

What?

Bieele:

 This might sound crazy,

Yes!

Bieele:

 but would be a great selling feature and would draw quite a lot of potential buyers over the edge. This would justify a bit more spending 10kEuro on a telly!

And how much do you think a BV7 would cost if it was included a free upgrade to new TV after 3 years?

I know this idea is wild; I just returned from a new years party and had a couple of drinks to 'free my mind'.

On the other hand, I truly believe that B&O needs wild ideas to survive; because currently more than 99.9% of the available costumers also believe that paying between 10 and 20 kEuro for a flat screen television is a crazy idea.

Bieele 

I think to focus a bit more on "upgradeability" may not be a bad investment for them. But would take long time to establish this, to get to the point where you can really believe the sales person that the "TV" would be upgradeable to stay future proof.

Also, they would have to probably limit that to their own range to set the benchmark, and with the BV7 32" still beeing on a single DVI port, this could be seen as a joke.

For the BV 7 40 on the other hand, for owners of MK1 and MK2 to get a BS3 slapped in the back, I could see that that helps to sell the product. Not sure what the real cost of that update would be though, this would be a transaction that should be partially covered by the initial investment. I wouldnt expect them to loose money, but then again I also would not expect them to make a huge margin on this.

 They actually do sometimes these sort of things, I thought that some TVs were upgraded to become HD ready, same for the older beosystems or am I mistaken? 

And in the end, what does 'future-proof' really mean?  How often over the last 6 years (to build on the proposed 3-year cycle) have we seen ground-breaking new capabilities and standards pop up out of nowhere?  Not too long ago we were all criticising the BeoSystem 1/2 for not supporting DVI.  DVI?  Now we're screaming for more/better/advanced HDMI in an environment in which HDMI's foibles are being exposed.

I think it fair to say that we're in a bit of a transitional phase and that things will eventually settle down.  Realize where we are on the timeline.  My '93 MX-5500 was 'future-proof' for about 15 years,  My Avant US, as fabulous as it still is, was castigated as 'obsolete' 2 years after it blew away the competition. 

At the moment, fully 60% of what I actually watch can be fully rendered by the MX, and it was built at a time in which the idea of 'future proof' wasn't even considered.  Those days will come again.