Green Mountain launches a new generation of coffee machine-- adding digital secrecy

Encryption can sometimes protect the interests of a party, but it is not welcomed by everyone. For software, movies and music, we need to protect copyright and protect the rights and interests of authors through encryption. But is encryption really necessary for a coffee machine?

Coffee Maker

Yes, it's a coffee machine. Recently, Green Mountain launched its new generation of Keurig 2.0 coffee maker. The biggest change to this coffee machine is the addition of the DRM digital encryption system. In the future, except for the K-cup coffee authorized by Green Mountain, K-cup coffee from other competitors will not be able to use on the Keurig 2.0 coffee machine.

In fact, Green Mountain launched the K-cup coffee machine with encryption function is a helpless move. In addition to Starbucks, Flogers, Dunkin' Donuts and other authorized companies, other unauthorized companies have also begun to launch K-cup coffee, as the patent for K-cup (K-Cup) coffee originally pioneered by Green Mountain expired in 2012. However, the K-cup coffee offered by many competitors is much cheaper than the official one, which has a considerable impact on the sales of their K-cup coffee, so Green Mountain decided to launch an upgraded version of Keurig 2.0 coffee machine that supports encryption to ensure its market advantage.

In addition to having a larger capacity of 28 ounces, the new coffee maker will also use "interactive technology" such as the DRM system to ensure that unauthorized K-cup coffee cannot be used on the machine. Just like the relationship between inkjet printers and ink cartridges, the latter is always relatively more profitable and certainly cannot be taken advantage of by others.

At a recent results conference, Green Mountain Coffee CEO Brian Kelley insisted that the main purpose of the initiative was to "ensure that users get quality coffee simply and consistently every time." However, according to outside understanding, the move is mainly to protect Green Mountain's multibillion-dollar K-Cup business. It's just that Green Mountain will have to take some time to convince users to upgrade the old product to version 2.0, otherwise other brands of K-cup coffee will still be active in the Keurig coffee machine. Kelley seems to be quite confident, saying: "when there is a new technology, and it is better technology, you will fall in love with it, and then provide users with better products, and let users switch to new products."

However, for ordinary consumers, Green Mountain's practice of controlling the market and consumer behavior through technology does not know what the advantages and disadvantages are after being tested by the market, and it will take time to test.