Short lifespans have plagued tech more in the last 25 years than at any point in the past. I particularly hate when a bit of tech goes obsolete for no reason other than the manufacturer decided it doesn't want to support it anymore. I want to take the CEO by the lapels and remind them that they sold these products and they had better support them for a while.
Belkin has become the latest company to exit a product line that I have used practically since it came out. They announced today that they will cease all support for their Wemo brand of smart switches, a product line they launched less than 15 years ago. Their email to me this morning sounds about as corporate and bullshitty as you'd expect:
After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to end technical support for older Wemo products, effective January 31, 2026.
This decision was not made lightly. Over the last decade, since Belkin first launched Wemo in 2011, we’ve been committed to providing consumers with innovative, simple-to-use accessories for a seamless smart home experience. However, as technology evolves, we must focus our resources on different parts of the Belkin business.
We acknowledge and deeply appreciate the support and enthusiasm for Wemo over the last several years. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in the smart home space and are grateful to our customers for welcoming Wemo into their homes.
We understand this change may disrupt your routines, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
I have nine of the little bastards. "Disrupt your routines" means I have to replace the nine Wemo plugs with some other brand that works with Google Home. Fortunately I already have two Gosund switches (which I should point out have never disappeared from my Google Home app), and a 4-pack of 5G plugs from the same company will only set me back $42.
I thought this might happen when Google Home could no longer reach any Wemo switches through its app or voice commands last month. The outage lasted two weeks or so, during which time I had to hope that the automation I set up could turn them on and off, else I would have to reach under furniture in the dark until I could replace them.
Of course, the economics have to be a problem. There are probably a few million Wemo devices around the world, all of which have independent connections to the Internet and thus to Wemo's back end. That probably cost them tens of thousands of dollars per month to operate. How much does that cost per device, given that people likely keep their $29 smart plugs for years?
Gosund doesn't have that overhead as their products connect directly to Google Home. And Google has a pretty good likelihood of supporting its software for more than 15 years.
Still, I'm quite annoyed. At least the new switches will probably stay connected to my automation more reliably.