MKBHD, the wallpaper app and how definitely not to build a new product.

Key points:

• The famous tech reviewer MKBHD just launched a wallpaper app, Panels.
• Both its product strategy and execution have been roundly condemned.
• The whole episode is not just a product lesson, though, but a lesson in how to trash a brand.
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If you’ve been on Twitter the past few days, you would have been overwhelmed by the torrent of tweets going after MKBHD and his newly launched wallpaper app, Panels.

Conclusion: Don’t build bad apps that nobody wants, especially if you’re the first person who should know that.
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Who is MKBHD or Marques Brownlee?

I came across Marques Brownlee (or MKBHD = Marques Keith Brownlee + High Definition) reasonably late in the piece after I watched his recent review of the Humane AI pin, a device he described as ‘the worst product I’ve ever reviewed… for now”.

(In fairness, the Humane AI pin is a pretty terrible piece of tech, launched far too early and with nebulous claims to solve the bug-bears of smartphones, though that isn’t the point.)

Marques Brownlee is regarded as one of the world’s best tech reviewers. His YouTube channel and podcast have tens of millions of subscribers.

With his reviews, he is widely regarded as able to make or break a new product.

His knowledge and perspective on good product design and execution are highly regarded, though it is his enormous influence and striking critiques that have led many critics to bask in Schadenfreude over Marques Brownlee’s recently released wallpaper app, Panels.

The takedown has been funny, for sure, though also tragic on a number of levels.

Not the least of which is that surely, of all the people in the world, this was a man who shouldn’t have gotten his new product just so wrong.

Panels: the wallpaper app

Panels is a subscription-based wallpaper app, and if that slightly baffles you, you’re not alone.

A monthly $12 subscription (!), which is pretty steep when wallpapers have otherwise always been freely downloadable online.

But it wasn’t just the real strategic or viability question mark over the app, notwithstanding that I fully support artists being paid for their work.

It was the poor product execution and content that drove people nuts.
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Product strategy: getting it wrong

MKBHD has always warned his subscribers about overpriced gadgets, and then he released a $12/m wallpaper app.

Indeed, he tweeted it in 2016:

“Never try to charge for something that was already free.”

I mean, MKBHD literally adviced future MKBHD!

From a product strategy perspective, charging $144/y for a product I’m sure few of us are looking for, even if it were free, is a pretty bold move.

MKBHD hit back at his critics, stating:

“Dawg. The target market for this is insanely small, Most people don’t download a wallpaper app. This is for those who have been asking. If you’re not into, don’t worry about it 😅”

To which one critic on Twitter hit back:

“Alright be honest, which of you fools was asking for a paid wallpaper app in 2024.”

Ouch, but true.

Who's product strategy is to develop a subscription app for an insanely small target market? It's not 2016.

From a product strategy perspective, MKBHD has an audience large enough to make almost any idea work, and he settles on a subscription-based wallpaper app? This is a man who’s entire brand is built on authenticity.

Cynical much?
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Product execution: getting it really wrong

If you were to build a subscription-based wallpaper app in 2024, my goodness, the creative content had better be a cut above anyone’s expectations.

Except that with Panels, it wasn’t.

One background titled ‘Orange’ is exactly that. An orange background:

Flat artwork and images for $144/y.

Not exactly sure where the value exchange in that is.

But it gets worse.

The app also offers an ad-supported subscription, but in exchange for this subscription, users are bombarded with intrusive ads and asked to hand over excessive amounts of user data.

After a quick teardown of the app, users realised it was also poorly made and could have been a Google Drive link.

The links to the downloadable wallpapers were not only accessible with a little know-how, they were not authenticated or encrypted in any way.

And to add insult to insult, the app’s payments were verified on the client side!

MKBHD argued that launching the app was no small feat:

We’re talking about a wallpaper app in 2024.

Just a react native app, easily deployed to iOS and Android simultaneously.

What was no small feat was launching such a poorly executed app for an audience that doesn’t exist.

Cynical much?
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Schadenfreude coming your way

I mentioned that I really do think artists should be compensated for their work and creativity.

But this isn’t the way to do it.

I’m also all for anyone giving it a go. Product strategy and execution are hard, and rarely do you succeed on day #1.

But, you really have to consider the cynicism here.

MKBHD bashed a premium, minuscule AI projector (the Humane Pin review I mentioned) and then released a half-baked cash-grab wallpaper app straight out of 2016.

Some of the comments from some critics have been icky and a bit personal and that isn’t cool.

But the most common meme on the whole thing sort of sums it up: