I can only imagine that the ‘Pro’ title means ‘paywall’ for premium features. If so, then I would not want to even think about what features and maybe things that would fall behind the ‘Pro’ logo if it is a paid service.
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Sure sounds like that! “The anticipated SmartThings Pro is expected to expand on this, offering more features, possibly for a premium. This follows the trend where ‘Pro’ versions provide enhanced and more capabilities.”
But, it could be a higher-end offering for professional installers–and advanced do-it-yourself folks…
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No idea what the features will be, but I already feel like I won’t be able to live without it 
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That’s been the industry trend for the last eight months or so. Alexa, ring, Arlo, IFTTT, nest, chamberlain MyQ, even eWeLink have all taken things that used to be free and now put them behind a paid subscription. I think it’s one of those things like airlines charging for baggage: a couple of companies tried it out, consumers went along, and it eventually became a common practice. 
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I have no evidence of this, but my gut says premium features are going to be a lot of the stuff we have now they just take away and charge for. If it then comes with stability and better support, that may be worth it even so.
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That’s what the other companies I mentioned have done. But we will just have to wait and see.
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Signify does that with the WiZ Pro line, which is aimed at managing residential and commercial applications and has products not usually available for the end user like relay switches or LED drivers.
But… it could be as well a subscription for enhanced surveillance, I believe they offer 24 hours free recording now with the Aeotec camera so maybe they’re expanding it with AI, longer storage, etc.
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I’d hope it is simply a rebranding of the existing commercial/professional services they offer; pre-installed SmartThings, multiple dwelling units etc. I am sure they already have one or more brands for that but I’ve long since forgotten them and they may well need strengthening going forward.
While I could imagine there may be scope for subscription services in SmartThings, I would have thought they would still have a strong end user/consumer focus.
Perhaps there is the area of commercial exploitation that could be addressed somehow.
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As long as we don’t know what is behind the PRO service we can play around and speculate.
My types:
- Ability to install custom Edge drivers only in the PRO service,
- Possibility to connect a certain number of devices, e.g. more than 50 only in the PRO service,
- Possibility to use all special services such as Home Monitor, Home Care, Energy, AI Care and others only in the PRO service.
Add your suggestions. 
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No way to tell of course, but I think your first two candidates are quite possible, because those are situations which probably increase customer support costs for Samsung.
On the third, the idea that all the current “services“ would be put behind a subscription paywall, I think not, UNLESS people buying an expensive Samsung appliance, get, say, two years of pro for free.
That’s because almost all of those services were first introduced to make Samsung smart appliances seem more valuable, either to individual customers or to multifamily property managers. Not as part of the standalone hub ecosystem. (ST Home Monitor is the exception, and, I agree, that one might be pushed behind a paywall again because it probably has increased customer support costs associated with it.)
This type of “free with purchase“ fee structure is already being used by both Apple and Amazon/Ring for some offerings.
But again, no way to know for sure in advance.
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Btw, if anyone’s curious, here’s the trademark application the new story was referring to. No real details there, other than using robot vacuums as an example.
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I was waiting for a post about this. I saw the article yesterday or the day before. If its not a crazy amount & they provide somwthing useful i would have no problem supporting samsung but after spending alot of $$$$ on a tv with only 4 gigs of storage & a sound bar that was also just purchased & had to be fixed 3 times & features continually being removed from my phone… im starting to question them. Oh… this will make you chuckle… support told me to buy a fire stick to solve storage issue. Tred wisely my friends with this one…
& sorry for blowing off some steam.
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Well, if any curently available free functionality that I am using suddenly gets locked behind a subscription wall, SmartThings can go the way of my Ring products, lawn sprinkler timer, and all the others who shafted the very customers who made them successful:
E-WASTE!
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Im keeping an eye on apple as ghey moved alotbof people over from thier apple car development to a new & imporved homekit. I am becoming disappointed with samsung so im hoping apple gets this right.
We should stop providing ideas about what Samsung can charge us for in this thread…
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As you may recall, in the pre-Samsung days of SmartThings, there was a paid “security” monitoring service. It went away pretty quickly and as quietly as possible–no doubt due to the unreliability/false alarms prevalent then (and continuing to this day).
Another possibility comes to mind: a better Rules Engine interface in the app? You know, logical stuff like an ‘else’ statement… 
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Agree advanced rules engine. Webcore makes a comeback. And now we know why it was removed. Also will do more then 250 devices.
got to ask → why was it removed? 
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