Smart Home Company Insteon Shut Down—and Left Customers in the Dark

Regardless of the company's size or footprint, the sudden shuttering raises questions about what sorts of responsibilities Insteon had to signal the coming changes to the people who had invested in its tech.

“Other brands have done a much better job of explaining to customers ahead of time to give them some sort of a bridge,” Kozak says. “It has happened before, but this was next level.” For users who rely on connected door locks, security cameras, and light bulbs around the house, the Insteon debacle is a reminder that full control of one’s devices may be an illusion in the era of the cloud. But Kozak says that while Insteon’s mess is certainly a black eye for the smart-home industry, it’s an avoidable one.

“I don’t think people should take this as ‘the market is doomed,’” Kozak says. “There’s so much positivity and momentum behind the smart home in terms of what these brands are producing.” Positivity and momentum indeed. Revenue in the US smart-home market is growing and is expected to reach

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

-- points at Insteon's bricked hardware that is totally useless once the supporting server side infrastructure is unavailable.. and then very, very slowly.. points at every Tesla ever sold.

Kinda like relying on something like Facebook authentication, losing your FB account and getting locked out of services.

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