It hasn't helped that iOS and Android haven't always made it easy to connect to other local devices that aren't bluetooth. Cloud services are handy, cheap inter

It hasn't helped that iOS and Android haven't always made it easy to connect to other local devices that aren't bluetooth. Cloud services are handy, cheap intermediaries for lots of device/user interaction. LAN connectivity is a lot more complicated than it seems on the surface, with devices constantly going offline depending on power consumption and what chipsets are in the device (which is a function of what price point the makers were targeting). And yes, there are technical solutions to this (just add an IoT hub, just add this chipset, etc), but don't forget how cost-driven IoT still is. People want the features of smart devices, but won't pay 5x the cost for it...unless you're Apple making headphones. IoT is still very much a hack-driven industry. I do 100% agree that the software side is substandard, but until some of these chips get cheaper it's surviving on small margins.