Keyboard Talk of the Day (KTOD) - Will keyboard companies become obsolete?

[dante]

Will keyboard companies become obsolete?

With plentiful keycaps, cases, PCB's, switches, stabilizers, CAD softs, etc... do you see the majority of keyboard companies still selling keyboards in say 5 years?

I imagine the day may come when you will log into mechanicalkeyboards.com or the geekhack store and select all the items you need to build a keyboard then either build it yourself or have someone else do it for you.  Some would argue that day is already here but I'm referring to this activity growing large enough that it begins to affect the bottom line for most of these companies.

[CPTBadAss]

No. I don't think most people don't care to the level we care. They want something solid or good enough and move on. The average person probably doesn't care about 1.5x vs 1.25x modifiers and doesn't want to spend the time digging into the details.

[Puddsy]

No. I don't think most people don't care to the level we care. They want something solid or good enough and move on. The average person probably doesn't care about 1.5x vs 1.25x modifiers and doesn't want to spend the time digging into the details.

++

As long as they don't royally **** themselves, keyboard companies can go for a long time if they're any semblance of good.

[Evo_Spec]

i agree with CPT and Tact, i think it's hard to forget how much people don't care about their keyboards because we surf GH and DT and /r/MK all day so it just seems like it's insanely growing and such.

[hwood34]

People are lazy and want convenience. Companies give that to them

[faceyourfaces]

People are lazy and want convenience. Companies give that to them

I wouldn't call it laziness as much as not caring. If I don't care about [insert thing here] why would I spend the time to learn about [thing] and do things myself when I can just buy one already made for me?

[CPTBadAss]

Totally agree with faceyourfaces. It's not laziness as much as  a diff outlook.

[demik]

there are dozens of us! dozens!

[FoxWolf1]

Design and build to order is much less efficient than mass production. Especially when you take into account the many possible features that a customer might want. And even if customization options become more widespread, proprietary technologies and aesthetic components and differences in build style will likely lead to a persistence of plurality.  So I don't expect the keyboard world to move to an "all parts" model anytime soon.

[bhtooefr]

It's an extreme minority of the mechanical keyboard market that builds a keyboard from parts. So, no, I don't see mechanical keyboard companies becoming obsolete.

Now, as far as keyboard companies in general, they're already obsolete, because computers come with rubber dome keyboards that most people find acceptable.

[PocoLoco]

I dont think they will ever become obselete people are a bit lazy and not everyone knows how to solder custom pcb's finally every year there are mx switch shortages so i would think not

[Hypersphere]

Sure, eventually. Like Clint said in Unforgiven, "We all have it coming, kid."

[vivalarevolución]

No. I don't think most people don't care to the level we care. They want something solid or good enough and move on. The average person probably doesn't care about 1.5x vs 1.25x modifiers and doesn't want to spend the time digging into the details.

This.