[everythingctl]

Has any startup succeeded by starting out offering shiny hardware running innovative new software, all of which they have to develop?

It seems like a fatal dilution of focus to have to worry about the design and logistics of a fancy dumb terminal widget when you also have to get the software/AI/app integration stuff right.

Just make an app with text and voice interaction. Accept that the thing in our pockets with a screen and an internet connection is going to be a smartphone. You will not build an own-hardware moat with these weird little bits of e-waste.

[paxys]

I don't think there has been a single successful hardware startup in the last decade, so the answer to your question is safely "no" without even going into specifics.

Which is sad, because I'm sure there's room for a lot more innovative devices in the world outside of a single glass rectangle in your pocket that everyone must plug into in some way. The economics of the industry just makes it very hard for them to survive, and we all lose out because of it.

[sbarre]

Analogue ( https://www.analogue.co/ ) comes to mind..

Genki Things is another...

I'm sure there are others?

[Aurornis]

There are tons of successful hardware startups in recent history.

You just don't hear about them because they're not selling to you. They make business, commercial, and industrial hardware.

Consumer hardware is very hard because consumers are extremely demanding of hardware. Just look at how difficult it is to convince people to spend even $5-10 on useful software or sign up for a $100/year SaaS product with near zero marginal cost per customer. Consumers are really hard to please and consumer price points are difficult to serve.

[coffeebeqn]

Oculus? I guess it’s been over a decade already

[endofreach]

> The economics of the industry just makes it very hard for them to survive

Care to expand on that?

[wmf]

In the case of Humane and Rabbit the software doesn't sound all that innovative relative to ChatGPT/Copilot.

[jazzyjackson]

I guess the Pebble watch is the last thing that comes to mind from a new entrant. The original ipod? lol.

[ZiiS]

Despite a loved and wellmade product; Pebble lasted three years a decade ago, not sure that is "succeeded".