The former likely involves long-term support contracts, and the latter is often solved with third parties manufacturing replaceable items.

Sometimes you also buy large stakes in critical suppliers.

Not sure about the nuclear reactor non-sequitur, but with a physical device like a razor blade you can buy spares, buy 3rd party, or move on.

When an IoT maker adds 'cloud' to their product and makes it inextricably tied to the product's functionality, you have to be able to rely on their ability and willingness to maintain the cloud services for as long as you use the product.

Yes, I can get electricity from a different provider, or buy a new handle, or indeed get a new garage door opener fitted.

The problem is that a cloud-controlled garage door opener creates an unnecessary dependency on the continued existence - and good behaviour - of the vendor, unless one thinks that being able to open it from anywhere in the world is an essential feature of a garage door opener.

There's more to it? Being a cloud service means there's a simple API to open the garage door, using vanilla networking standards. The IoT is maybe more about just using IP for communications instead of special signaling devices (garage-door-opener radios etc).

Even if I just wanted to control the door from my desk at home, I'd still benefit from it being IoT-based.

We'll get to find out soon with Westinghouse... https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/03/31/westingho...

Westinghouse is going bankrupt, not going out of business.

Which means a shedding of liabilities. The question is: which ones.

As soon my razor, which works with blades, needs to connect to the internet I'll find a different brand.

For the latter buy old school razors with single metal blade. Simple commodity with competitive markete.

It's amazing how much cheaper this (i.e. the double-edge "safety" razor) is, and it's amazing how many people don't know it. Over three years ago, I spent $11 on a pack of 100 blades. I'm not even halfway through the package.

> What happens to your handle when your razor blade supplier goes out of business?

This is an utterly stupid comparison. Razorblades cost less than 10 cents and are disposable by design. You don't spend $100 on a garage door monitor, or $1000+ on an appliance or TV expecting to use it once and throw it away.