I don’t think this is true. Yes, if you have Ecobee’s the nicest one costs, but there are many many free ways that are easy.
I’m quite sure they get this, thus the V2. Yes, they haven’'t executed fully yet, but they certainly put a lot of effort and energy into getting started at least, give them credit for that.
I think a lot of people don’t use Smart Lighting enough. It can do about 60% of what I need. That’s not enough overall, but it’s enough that I’m not without automated lights when the internet is out at least.