Your first point reminds me of a recent podcast[1] where Tren Griffin said that sometimes the hardware is simply a distribution channel for the software, which is where all the margins are. He called this "software in a box."
To be honest, I just fucking hate it. When companies turn a product into a service, they can afford selling entry package at a loss, thus driving out competitors who sell products as products. Suddenly, you have yet another thing for which you need recurring payments (instead of one-time), and which will only work as long as the provider likes it. You lose freedom and control.