Future direction for Apex Fusion Cloud service

[wmo168]

Now everyone is hooked on Apex Fusion (Awesome service and product), which is cloud based service. It cost money for Neptune to run these services and do update and development. Do you think in the future they will charge a monthly fees to use Apex Fusion? Selling hardware alone can't support these operation...

A lot of Cloud based IP camera charge monthly fees to monitor and alert of things.. Even Cloud storage service like Apple/Amazon charge a minimal fee. I don't use those service instead go back to the old way of local IP back to my house and have local service...

At what point Neptune decide it will be a pay subscription service "Due to increase cost" etc..... or perhaps selling service and features on Apex Fusion to charge like advanced graphing etc...

Thoughts?

[Anim8me2]

Fusion is basically a static forwarding service, it doesn’t require a storage solution on their end. The only hitch in the future might be the need for more bandwidth which is probably a few years down the road.

[wmo168]

Originally Posted by Anim8me2

Fusion is basically a static forwarding service, it doesn’t require a storage solution on their end. The only hitch in the future might be the need for more bandwidth which is probably a few years down the road.

Good point, they called it cloud-based service so sounds like they are storing at least something in the cloud hopefully they will keep in the direction they in now...

[JustinFromAL]

I have no problem with Neptune monetizing Fusion, but I would like to see a tiered version that allows those who want to see advanced features finance the basic operation of the service for those that just remote access to their tanks.

IE, Fusion stays free. As it is today.

Fusion Pro is $X per month and would include additional features. Livestock tracking, a "public side" page where users can see your tank details without a login, product/inventory tracking, etc.

Personally I would gladly pay $5mo / $49yr for a full featured, one stop shop logging service that tied in with my aqua-controller. Heck, for the right features I might even be willing to double that price, but it would take a large development change from where fusion currently is.

[CoralNerd]

I'm in no mood to fork out a monthly fee. Are you guys crazy

[FullBoreReefer]

Yeah, let's not give ideas, we already pay a decent price for every product.

[d0ughb0y]

Originally Posted by CoralNerd

I'm in no mood to fork out a monthly fee. Are you guys crazy

lmao

salesman's dream come true.

[JustinFromAL]

Originally Posted by CoralNerd

I'm in no mood to fork out a monthly fee. Are you guys crazy

Did you read the post or just see a $ amount and freak out? As it exists today Fusion SHOULD be free. Remote access is a cardinal feature of an aquarium controller and should be included in the base price, without monthly cost.

So you're saying that you wouldn't want the fusion service to get better if folks like me were willing to pay for it? That's pretty short sighted. How do you think "free to play" games work?

My point is that I already pay for a third party data logging service (aquatic log). If a similar service were to get rolled into Fusion I would be willing to pay for it and in some way financing the base fusion service.

[FullBoreReefer]

Originally Posted by JustinFromAL

So you're saying that you wouldn't want the fusion service to get better if folks like me were willing to pay for it?

My point is that I already pay for a third party data logging service (aquatic log). If a similar service were to get rolled into Fusion I would be willing to pay for it and in some way financing the base fusion service.

Nope. Having to pay will drive many people away, even if your paying for an upgrade. That upgrade will soon be standard and many hobbiest will drop and go to another product.

Paying for data logging? Are you running a high end coral business or experimental lab tank? Fusion already shows graphing, and well, if you look daily you will see changes. Maybe I'm wrong, but datalogging a tank is far from datalogging a high performance engine that will scatter itself in seconds, versus our tanks that decline over time...unless perhaps you mess up and over dose something. But still, you made the error why data log it? Maybe I'm missing something.

But hey, you keep paying and looking at graphs, I'll keep saving and enjoy my tank.

To each their own... here's to Neptune turning the tables

[JustinFromAL]

Originally Posted by FullBoreReefer

Nope. Having to pay will drive many people away, even if your paying for an upgrade.

Ah man, just like all those people who don't use Dropbox for free because they have an upgraded plan. Or Evernote, or Dyndns, etc. etc. etc. I really don't get that logic.

Originally Posted by FullBoreReefer

But hey, you keep paying and looking at graphs, I'll keep saving and enjoy my tank.

I'm talking about additional data logging. I'm aware of what Fusion does, I use it daily. If I could also log more robust feeding schedules, livestock images, other supplements, etc. I could track coral growth and correlate that with feeding, lighting, and dosing changes.

Fusion does a great job giving you access to data culled from your Apex, but if I could tie in my other data more robustly than just with a "note" I would be willing to pay extra for those features above what we currently receive, that's all I'm saying. I'm sure there are people that think those features should be included in the base price, and I don't _disagree_, but having a little experience in paying developers I can see where a second revenue stream might be needed.

Originally Posted by FullBoreReefer

To each their own... here's to Neptune turning the tables

Cheers!

[wmo168]

I don't mind buying more products from Neptune, but if it comes to subscription? I would rather go back to the classic style Apex Controller App or directly connect back to my home IP for free to monitor or control...

It is very sad that Nest Cam and all the other CLOUD thing ask you subscription fees... Same concept with the original NEST Thermostats, people will go crazy if they start charging... Same concept with GMAIL if they start charging people to use it or for storage...

[kurt_n]

I have no doubt a subscription service will happen in the future, but the main point is that you don't need Fusion for remote access. They wouldn't be taking anything away from the product if they did.

The only thing that would really go away without Fusion is the "Heartbeat" feature. You need Fusion for that. Until recently, that feature was available from Reeftronics. Pretty sure if Neptune started charging, someone on the interwebs would deploy the same type of feature for free, or at least less than Neptune would charge. It's not rocket science.

Yes... Fusion makes it easier to set things up since you don't need to mess with Port Forwarding or static IPs, but it's not required. I'm no network guru, but if I can set up my Apex for remote access pretty sure most others can too. Can you follow directions? Then you can set yours up too.

[Stolireef]

Interesting thread. Fusion has really changed my relationship with my Apex (for the better). That said, the classic web interface also works pretty well and can easily be set up for remote (that's how I used to do it).

They'd have to add some really compelling features to justify a subscription IMO. I actually can't think of much they could add that would be of considerable value.