Is it too hard? Honestly, I'm not a hardware engineer,
but I do know one thing: when it comes to hardware, everything
that's an option is always more expensive than locking
in a single feature. Was it the right choice with the
MX-900? Who knows? But a lot of people really enjoy the
product. Would we sell more if this one feature were different?
Who knows? But ultimately, the decision is already made
for this product. We'll take what we learn from this round
and balance it with the requirements, practicalities,
and good ideas of hardware and software design to make
the the next round of products an improved user experience
overall.

Very odd. I have three different MX units in regular use,
and they really do get only 1-2 months before their IR
strength becomes next to useless and, at that time, I
usually notice that the backlight is also nearly gone.
I eat through AAA batteries at a furious clip.