

Ask HN: Should we open the API of our smart object? - thomasjan

Our startup is making a smart object. You connect to it via Android or iOS, and use the smartphone to control it (e.g adjust the temperature of it via the app)
We were wondering if it would be a good idea to go &quot;open&quot; with our smart object API and allow any developer to write an app that connect to it.<p>On the upside : looks cool on marketing, and we could focus more on the product and less on the apps if someone made better apps that us<p>On the downside : I feel that there has to be one (competitors could use their app to control our product etc) but can&#x27;t think of anything harmful<p>What&#x27;s your experience on that ? Do you know any company that opened their api with success or failure ?<p>NB : Im talking about communication between our bluetooth product and a smartphone, nothing related to servers<p>Thanks !
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davismwfl
That's a big question. It depends on how you plan to monetize your product and
in what space it sits. Also, open doesn't have to mean unregulated. You can
(and IMO should) have people register for the rights to use your API, and the
licensing terms should be that you can revoke their license under certain
circumstances. Think of it like Apple vs Android. Apple is super closed off,
(wouldn't personally go there for my own product), but Android for a long time
was the wild west, some argue it still is. So if you are too open you can
actually hurt your products success because too many people provide a poor
experience around your product and your product starts to take the blame not
the app developer. Whereas with Apple, they try to control so much that it is
sometimes impossible to get legitimate apps published timely or at all, even
defect fixes can take too much time to get released.

I know, I didn't answer really. That's because I really think it depends.
However, I would always side on the openness, but openness with some controls
to make sure users have a good experience. As for concern over someone writing
a better app then you do, I like the attitude overall. If someone does, buy it
from them, hire them or use it as motivation to make yours better. Competition
is good, it can generally make good things great in the hands of motivated
people.

As for competitors, execution is what beats competitors. But that doesn't mean
you should allow them a front row seat to your party either, hence open but
not unrestricted.

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thomasjan
Monetization: purely by selling the product itself in shops (approximately
$100)

Thanks for the detailed answer and I like the idea to have it open but
restricted

Is there a way to forbid that an app can control our product ? it is a pure
bluetooth smart object easy to reverse engineer, a competitor could have his
app control our product. That's what Im afraid of

~~~
davismwfl
Well, I am not a blue tooth expert, so you might want to double check my
understanding. But from what I do understand, you could restrict key functions
right? For example, maybe you restrict it in that they need a magic key that
your device will recognize and you only issue that when they register. This
allows you to control who has access to those key features. Also, you don't
publish your API unless they register.

Again, I fully admit to not being a bluetooth expert so maybe my understanding
isn't accurate. Happy to talk through ideas though, love learning and coming
up with options to figure out how to get things done.

