I mean, they have to sell them the hardware. Then software needs to be run and continuously updated. I would probably prefer a subscription to a large up front charge for ongoing software maintenance, or having to gamble that a “free” cloud service stays online

Good point. I'd just worry about my device being bricked should they hypothetically go out of business (see other IoT stories). Great, I wouldn't be paying for the software updates anymore, but the device I own would be entirely useless. There's nothing wrong with offering a self-hosting version either, arguably it would be preferable.

I'm applying my personal values here, of course. In practice there will probably be contractual agreements to provide the service for some number of years.

We have a self hosted version of the system available, we have found that attitudes to data security and location are changing. Customers want to have it in house to the extent possible.

this is a good point, I mentioned that we are exploring the business model now.

One benefit of the current model is that we expect lots of improvements in the hardware over coming months. We are rolling these out to our early adopter customers as they become available at no cost.

There is room for more creativity when it comes to the model

This is the satellite TV business model or Starlink, or most LTE ISPs.