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by zxcmx 2312 days ago
There's the worry that your platform vendor is going to squeeze you for all your profit, harvest "your" data, use your data to bootstrap competitors (seems like X is profitable!), "cancel" your platform or all the other things they will definitely make sure they retain the ability to do.

"Pray we do not alter the Terms and Conditions further". Walled gardens, app stores and closed ecosystems are FAANG staples at this point.

I think in many cases the technical delivery risks (say, having crappy updates, janky apps and the odd CVE) seem more survivable than taking on those kinds of business risks.

2 comments

And as a end-user and a potential customer, I see it as a mugger mugging another mugger. IoT isn't added to appliances to make anyone's lives easier; it's added to a) make the product look more "hot", b) create data streams that can be sold to marketers, and c) facilitate planned obsolescence - because while even today, a properly cared-for appliance can last a decade, adding IoT into the mix significantly shortens the time to replace.
Can't you mitigate this completely by working towards being acquired by your platform vendor?
So everyone becomes FANG free R&D?