We just believe that we can provide good quality devices and build all environment around it. It has nothing to do with monopoly etc., we just believe in what we do
I'll lay out some arguments that you can bring to your product team in favor of opening an api (local or cloud) and form a bet on the outcome.
First, lets consider the profile of smart aquarium device user. This user is most likely a power user in many aspects of their lives. I for one would match this user profile. My home has over 40 devices connected to wifi, a home server, 6 computers, iot devices all over automating things, and interacting with each other. We also have money. We can afford a reef aquarium, and most likely are at least in the upper middle class, especially if we are automating our aquarium.
Now consider the decision flow of a user choosing which system to buy into. They are obviously going to narrow down to hydros, apex, reefpi and your product. This probably isn't their first rodeo, and they have an idea of how they want more IOT products to integrate into the ecosytem of things in their home. They might be using homeassistant, google home or homekit, but most likely they are annoyed to open multiple apps to get all the info they want. The exception would be things that are one-off setups, like an aquarium light. so, hydros is out, and your products are out too.
So here I am, i've got shopping carts with a reefpi setup and an apex setup and i'm only considering those. I don't want anything that requires me to monitor in it's own app. I want to integrate with homeassistant. So I cannot consider your devices. No matter how much you believe in them, or how awesome they are in every other aspect.
Now for the bet:
- I bet that having an open api of some sort would increase sales of power users. could be small, perhaps eventually you would see 3-5% of users using this feature
- The 'opening' would create free viral like marketing, because the power users are also in the forums promoting their favorite products. They will promote the open products even when that feature isn't a requirement. People will share what they build, how they 'turn on the room lights when temperature is too low'
- longer term, you would see mixing of apex, reefpi and your products. You will capture sales from apex and DIY users.
I think the cost of this feature would be very small, perhaps only 1-2 devs in a cycle or two.
Your call!
