It’s difficult to imagine a time when the universal remote didn’t exist.
What does the loss of Harmony say about the ever-changing consumer electronics market itself, and where do we go from here? The Era of the Set-top-Box Begins But of all of our electronics, the universal remote control is the one we held in our hands as we'd lovingly wipe away the Cheeto dust and sometimes search for in the couch cushions.
But why would one of the most widely loved and objectively successful products just shut down? Sure, universal remotes often arrived into our living-rooms as mere accessories to more important devices in our home audio/video systems. For almost two decades the iconic clicker has tamed over-abundances of remotes on coffee tables the world over. Logitech's announcement that it has ceased production of Harmony marked an important milestone in the decline of a once critical product category, the universal remote control.