What's the catch with these types of giveaways? (TP-Link camera giveaway) - eviltoast
TP-Link
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Genuinely curious as to how these types of giveaways work and what the company gains from them. Is it the additional data you give them to enter the giveaway? Also does anyone own one of these cameras, are they actually worth redeeming in this case?

  • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
    24·
    2 months ago

    Is it the additional data you give them to enter the giveaway?

    Basically. You’re telling TP-Link that you’re a business that’s interested in selling their products. In return, their Sales team now has your information and can pester you tell you all about the latest TP-Link products.

    Additionally, they’re putting their products directly in the hands of customers who could become even bigger customers. If you, as a company, decide you like the product, then you’re probably going to buy more of said product.

    Finally, TP-Link is being selective about who gets the freebie—they’re not just handing them out willy-nilly. From the fine print:

    Offer valid only for SolutionX partners. One Insight S445 (2.8mm) camera per qualified SolutionX partner. Approval is required, and TP-Link reserves the right to verify applications

    So there’s probably some sort of “legitimacy threshold” you have to clear in order to get the goodies.

    • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      Cisco used to not be that selective.

      They used to give out free Meraki APs to everyone just for attending their webinars. The catch with those devices was licensing. You’ve got some limited-time free license, and then you either paid or kept a paperweight.
      At least officially. Some of them were later supported by OpenWRT, but newer ones are more locked down.

  • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
    5·
    2 months ago

    It could be the price of advertising, but I feel like this is one of those cameras where you need to connect it to your wifi or make an account with them

  • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    the catch is that you don’t own that camera, only the manufacturer does. besides requiring an account and a connection to china to be able to use it, they have access to both your network, and to the camera feed. they’ll use the network info to gather info about you, and the camera feed to train their face and gait recognition AIs, possibly also for intelligence