Roku spent years trying to be Ring and Nest at once, and dropping hardware the moment Fox took over says plenty about who actually wanted that business in the first place. I’m not surprised. Roku did really well when it focused on streaming hardware and developing its streaming ecosystem and platform. Developing integrations with TV manufacturers to bring its “OS” to those devices was equally smart.
I guess that folding in other smart home products to map into that streaming ecosystem made sense at the time. But hardware costs are starting to climb dramatically. I think focusing back on the streaming platform and those supported hardware devices or integrations is a smarter financial move.
However, I do need to complain personally about being shut out of apps on my Roku 4K streaming box. I tried to launch a couple of apps, like HBO Max and another one, and was told I needed to update my hardware. That’s a hard upsell that I didn’t appreciate.