1) create a standard that does all of the normal things you would want an IOT device to do
2) turn it into a microservice that runs on standard platforms like AWS/GCP/Azure
3) User buys the hardware, and then essentially pays monthly for the services to the cloud services (potentially thru some kind of wrapper service that makes it easier for them to interact with)
So in the future, you would be able to have something like a vanilla version of what Nest cameras, wemo switches, and random leak sensors and whatever all provide, but you are both the producer and consumer of the data with a cloud service in the middle. Yes, of course the cloud people could spy on you. But its different when you don't have to sign some agreement when you "login" to setup your nest sensor that says you agree to them selling your data.