I find it interesting that so few are working on the actual IoT devices but so many are working on software to support it.
I think you know the answer: generally, hardware is harder than software for a startup. There was a post about a hardware kickstarter project that failed: "Kickstarter project spent $3.5M to finish a prototype and ended in disaster" [1] and a list here: List of Failed Kickstarter Hardware Projects [2]
Re:Azure Intelligent Systems Service
by streametry on Saturday July 12, 2014 @04:14PM
(#8025671)
And not just that hardware is harder but also the IoT market is estimated at $19 trillion [1] creating a gold rush of sorts.
But yes, there is no shortage of IoT platforms (xively, dweet, nitrogen, data.sparkfun, ...) and I'm partly in involved as well. What I found interesting about the MS program is that recently they were giving away boards for you to try. So it seems they are in a position to provide the hardware and the platform.
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/cisco-ceo-pegs-inte...
What are you working on? I personally love this stuff, and I hit the hardware blogs as much as HN.
Re:Azure Intelligent Systems Service
by dmritard96 on Saturday July 12, 2014 @10:09PM
(#8026408)
http://www.flair.zone
Shoot me an email if you want to chat!
As a hardware startup founder, working on IoT devices, I find it interesting that so few are working on the actual IoT devices but so many are working on software to support it. It's great to see interest and it's great to have alternatives to building our cloud backends ourselves, but I would love to see more actual IoT devices actually navigating the messiness that is going from prototype to product. While this solves a problem, relative to tooling, navigating the China (or US manufacturing), and funding, the last thing we are worried about is building our backend system. Granted, our team has experience building distributed systems and full stack hardware <-> software experience...
Seems to be a ton of 'me toos' in this space and I would love to see the traction statistics they get from actual IoT device builders. Most IoT device builders fancy themselves becoming the platform instead of just an accessory...