Sounds like that's a nice route to forcibly obsolete this well before the end of its usable life by turning off the API servers and saying "it's for your own sa

Sounds like that's a nice route to forcibly obsolete this well before the end of its usable life by turning off the API servers and saying "it's for your own safety... We have a better newer device now available for only $800 (plus subscription)". Also a nice single point of failure if you can hijack their DNS and deny every activation request (!)