From the VB article - "The truth is that if your company sells hardware today, your business model is essentially over". And you are comparing a complete product with only hardware / software. I agree with you when you say "Its all about the product", and even the VB author does ("No one can make money selling hardware anymore. The only way to make money with hardware is to sell something else and get consumers to pa…
Yes and no. The VB article talks about hardware as if Shenzhen engineered everything. In the end, they're just some manufacture copying TI or Qualcomm's reference designs. It's quite sensationalist I think.