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Most of these companies don't have any subscription fees. They just provide the "free" cloud service for as long as it takes to make a whole bunch of sales, th
by fps 9y ago
Most of these companies don't have any subscription fees. They just provide the "free" cloud service for as long as it takes to make a whole bunch of sales, then shut it down and suddenly all the devices stop working. if you're selling a $50 device that people have to wire into their home, with an expected lifetime in years or decades, it's pretty negligent to not provide for a sustainable service.
- jasonlaramburu 9y agoYou’re saying it would be more responsible to charge a monthly fee? How could you compete against those firms that do not charge fees?
- fps 9y agoI'd prefer they just let you run the hub/central service yourself, with an option to have them run it for a fee, yes. I think we'll start to see regular consumers harmed by some of these start-ups destroying hardware when they go out of business, and perhaps people will stop buying them unless there's some protection. Then the "free" solutions will be looked at suspiciously and hopefully discounted by the tech press and retailers. Alternately, retailers might be held liable for refunding purchases of products that stop working before the legally mandated warranty date (such as in the EU) or by credit card companies in the US, so they'll stop selling any cloud required garbage.
- jasonlaramburu 9y agoIt’s possible but sounds pretty optimistic. More likely that the big 5 tech companies (who can pay for cloud services to function indefinitely) will consolidate the smaller IoT plays, and offer users a limited feature set for free, with premium tiers as well. Also remember that if you’re maintaining the hub yourself it won’t get security updates.