Comment by xp84
2 days ago
It's wild to see how for no reason other than marketing, we're seeing devices with a static feature set being bricked. I remember older Nest thermostats being similarly crippled or bricked.
By "static feature set" I mean to draw a contrast between these plugs and light switches, and say, a device that has to have a web browser or which needs to access an external API that may need to change to reflect changing external factors. Literally nothing needs 'updating' about a simple relay. It turns on and it turns off. Same now as in 2010.
Smart home tech really should be fully cost-free to keep working indefinitely. All these "cloud" and "mobile app" integrations that 100% of them have are what makes these EOLs happen, since the company needs to maintain servers speaking a certain API version, or push firmware updates out for every device ever made, and keep updating a mobile "app" just to keep it running.
The solution to this has been with us for over a decade: the Zigbee and Z-wave model. The devices speak a standard interface and talk to the owner's choice of standard hub forever. (If Sonoff goes out of business tomorrow my Sonoff devices will all still work perfectly fine.)
Belkin could have shipped Zigbee-compatible devices even when their first WeMo device came out, but they thought it was more profitable to make proprietary stuff.
> It's wild to see how for no reason other than marketing, we're seeing devices with a static feature set being bricked
I work in the smart home space. Your sentiment is reasonable and understandable but, respectfully, you’re wrong.
First, all these devices will continue to work locally. They’re just killing the server, which has continual real costs. They’re not being bricked, they’re just regressing to their static features.
Second, ZWave and Zigbee were never the future. It’s very hard to convince consumers they need a hub. My firms market research indicates that most consumers think it’s a cash grab. And the return rate of Zigbee products because they “don’t connect to WiFi” is scary high.
Finally, you need an app and cloud of some sort for controlling the device. Consumers expect that app will control the device and it will work anywhere in the world, because that’s why they bought it. That’s just the basic market research on the majority of consumers of smart home products. Users need a way to control the device (or at least set it up), and that means an app, which means continuous updates as app stores change. Global control means cloud relays and server costs.
Matter (the protocol) was inevitable. Consumers already have an IP network, and the big tech companies can afford to build and distribute apps and relay servers built into their phones and cloud offerings. This minimizes the risks of device manufacturers and maximizes compatibility.
> First, all these devices will continue to work locally. They’re just killing the server, which has continual real costs. They’re not being bricked, they’re just regressing to their static features.
What do you mean by "static feature"? Like that I can still press a button on my wall and it will toggle the status of my lights? Or that I can use my Wemo app when I am at home (but not elsewhere) to control my lights?
I have noticed that even when my wifi goes out, my programmed Wemos will still turn on X minutes before sunset and off X minutes after sunrise. Do you think this sort of operation requires the server (either always, or every once and a while) to be available?
I am trying to figure out if I should get new devices on Black Friday or if it's likely enough these will still work fine for my purposes come next Jan.
In the email they mention that they're focusing on other parts of the company. My guess is that their lousy quality for recent devices (IME) is causing lots of returns and lots of customer service demands. That costs them money. If the new devices worked better, they wouldn't have these ancillary costs, which are probably the true reason for shutting this all down.
Sounds completely believable. Belkin has undergone so many changes. For anyone else who didn't remember, I just looked it up. They're a subsidiary of Foxconn now, as is Linksys, who Belkin bought from Cisco. Now both are sister companies under the Foxconn umbrella.