Nail on the head. I think the gimmickry exists as a facade to give them a reason to slap enough electronics in a device to be able to harvest data, and to pigg

Nail on the head. I think the gimmickry exists as a facade to give them a reason to slap enough electronics in a device to be able to harvest data, and to piggyback off the user's internet for "updates". If you're going to put a microphone in a fridge, people are going to want to know why, so you need some kind of gimmick that allegedly uses it so you don't have to admit it's mostly there for data harvesting. They are cheaper (in dollars), which does appeal to consumers. Manufacturers sell the data and discount the merchandise. Tangential, but I'm curious what the margins on stuff like smart-fridges are. It seems like competition would drive us to a point where smart appliances are sold for at or below cost, with profits coming from selling data. It's crazy to me that LG or Maytag could become a data vendor that just so happens to sell appliances, because the data has to come from somewhere.