4mo ago

Marques Brownlee's ‘Panels’ Backlash, Explained

www.forbes.com Marques Brownlee's ‘Panels’ Backlash, Explained

YouTuber MKBHD (Marques Brownlee), sparked controversy and backlash after launching ‘Panels,’ a subscription-based, HD wallpaper app for phones.

Bro really tried to sell his subscribers a "50$ a year" subscription to a "wallpaper" app.

Interesting points about the "app":

the app has premium and free wallpapers
the free wallpapers are only available in sd quality and if you want hd youd have to subscribe
in order to unlock the sd quality you have to watch two 30 second ads.
theres a wallpaper called "orange" thats just the color orange

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Way more than that.
requires crazy permissions like user location
wallpapers are in a publicly accessible s3 bucket
profit split for wallpaper creators is 50/50 which is worse than most app store splits
most of the creators actually seem to be current MKBHD employees
app is either built from a template or an old app that they bought
Source: https://youtu.be/prZ7ZfdFrNs
- wallpapers are in a publicly accessible s3 bucket
  How are we still doing this, how
  
  Cuz iz ez, am lazy

A wallpaper app? What is this, 2008?
- And there's people in the comments being like "its only $5 for my favorite wallpaper app" which I just shake my head and laugh at. What kind of idiot eats this shit up? There's nothing better you can spend $5 than a shitty jpeg?
  
  nothing better you can spend $5 than a shitty jpeg?
  Two words: Star Citizen.
  
  Granted, it's probably my favourite wallpaper app too and I only learned about it yesterday. It's also my least favourite for the same reason. I've never used it, or any wallpaper app, or even knew they are a thing so it wins by default.
- honestly, samesies
  I'm kinda taken aback at how many people are popping in saying they have such things. at almost all usage times I can barely see my bloody wallpaper, too much else going on/present
  
  I always have my windows tiled or maximized so I just keep an epty black desktop background.
  My wallpaper is white and subtly stripe patterned and it was in a surprisingly good condition when I moved in.
  
  My wallpaper is the january page of a frieren themed calendar. From 2021. I only remembered what it was today after learning about all this
- indeed. I have ... a photo of the family? It's fine and cool?
  
  My dad has a photo of a family photo, and I think it rocks.
  
  I have a wallpaper of the Internet Explorer anime mascot Inori Aizawa. No I will not explain.
- I was on interfacelift back then. Good site for beautiful backgrounds. Only background app I use is Wallpaper Engine

Maybe I’m scarred but I have a reflexive distrust for any usage of “pumped” or “super excited” in a commercial context. No matter the subject.
- pumped: artificially inflated
  
  And remember kids, pump always comes before the dump

remember kids, if you take on responsibilities like renting out a studio space, and hiring employees, those costs are only going to go up, regardless of whether or not you continue to make the sort of revenue you've historically made from video views, which leads to having to rely more on merch sales, and patreon, and "other" revenue streams just to keep everyone paid. i mean, who knew, right?
- I rarely watch his videos, but that's because when I have, he clearly has direct financial entanglements and conflicts with the same major brands he's discussing or "reviewing".
  For a channel his size and reach, I can't imagine those aren't enough to cover his overhead, unless he's made some really terrible business decisions.
  This is, of course, entirely speculation and based off of calculations pulled from my brown star, so maybe I'm wrong about that.

I use subscription services to get the best letters of the alphabet.
For example, I use WinnrWinnrChicknDinnr to get access to the letter W (upper AND lower case!) for only $69 a month!
No idea why they needed my SSN, but look I'm not some pleb that uses free letters.
- oh finally, AaaS
  
  Elmo in shambles.
- Psh, I only use the Flushvalve Pro Vowel Pack. You can't beat them in terms of value for your money.

Ok but is the orange wallpaper better in HD?

Now that's a big L.

Nice to see everyone sharing their favorite wallpaper apps so here's mine: https://www.google.com/search?q=anime++imagesize%3A1920x1200&udm=2
- needs moar AI

I'll just stick with Wallpaper Engine, thanks.
- Wallpaper engine runs on phones?
  
  Only Android.

For $12 per month, Panels provides a range of high-definition wallpapers for phones, a hefty price tag for something that has always been freely available online.
Meanwhile, the bottled water industry... (⁠・⁠_⁠・)
ತ⁠_⁠ತ

Bro if your gonna buy a wallpaper app just get Wallpaper Engine on Steam, it's like less than $5
- Hey wait a minute Wallpaper Engine is just Windows Active Desktop with extra steps!
  (Never forgive Microsoft for killing Active Desktop)
  
  DOE remember Push Technology

ppl paid more for a single NFT

I'll give my money to Variety ta

wallhaven.CC Free, automatically sizes the wallpaper for your device. No ads
- Can't the OSs resize the image by itself? IIRC Windows 9x could already do that.
- thanks for that unrequested ad
  
  😅 Sorry, my intention was to compare the value compared to the value of a Panels subscription

I've been using Clarity on iOS and macOS for wallpapers. Costs $5 a year. Wallpapers are high quality. My only complaint is the macOS version has less selection and features compared to the iOS version.
- Respectfully, I'm honestly confused by this why are you paying any amount of money for wallpapers? I've never had an issue finding high quality images for my devices, phone or desktop. What exactly is the service doing that makes paying $5 the easier option?
  
  It's so cheap that I haven't given it much critical thought. For me I suppose it's mainly convenience. The iOS version has some shortcuts and widgets I find convenient for discovering new wallpapers. The Mac version is a little menubar app. I change my wallpapers frequently and I don't necessarily want to open a website everytime to do that.

48 comments