This is really cool. I suspect the buttons are already sold at loss, so it is probably very hard to build a similar, but more open, device at around a price point where you could just plaster the whole house with such buttons.
But I wonder if it might be done when leaving out the WiFi and most of the processing power from the button, and having essentially what is a RF remote control (like used for remote controlled outlet switches) with a receiving station. The receiver would be the "expensive" part, the gateway to Wifi/Internet and contain all the logic that links a button press to something usefull like a HTTP request.
can be had for 30 bucks including shipping, so based on that I could see it done.
Edit: obviously the behavior of such a button would have to be much better than a typical cheap remote control regarding reliably registering and then transmitting each and every button press, so the comparison is of course very limited
The wifi and a tiny microcontroller are available for around $5 in single units these days - google "esp8266" - I'm only _marginally_ surprised Amazon can ship these for $5, but I bet they aren't making much (if any) loss on these at their volumes.
If $5 was near their costs, wouldn't they then sell it for 2$ or something, because Amazon (and their brand partner) make money with the button later?
I bet the $5 price point is something they arrived at mostly by asking what customers are _willing_ to pay.
That whole concept is so new they would not hinder it's success by making the button $10 or anything near the true cost. Amazon is all about investing in growth, and this is very likely an investment. Maybe not even that much in additional sales, but in mindshare for a totally new and unique shopping experience.
All of that does not work for an open "does anything you want"-button, so anybody designing and selling such a thing would have to think very very different about the hardware cost.
My suspicion is perhaps someone said "Make them free! We'll make _heaps_ more out of the sales than they cost!", and someone else (probably a greybeard with enough experience to remember) said "Hey, remember CueCat? Maybe we need to 'sell' them for at least enough that when someone works out a good use for them that _doesn't_ result in retail sales, we won't be too unhappy with people flocking to grab them from us..."
But I wonder if it might be done when leaving out the WiFi and most of the processing power from the button, and having essentially what is a RF remote control (like used for remote controlled outlet switches) with a receiving station. The receiver would be the "expensive" part, the gateway to Wifi/Internet and contain all the logic that links a button press to something usefull like a HTTP request.
A kit of
5x Etekcity Outlet Receivers 2x Remote Control Transmitters 2x 12V Batteries
can be had for 30 bucks including shipping, so based on that I could see it done.
Edit: obviously the behavior of such a button would have to be much better than a typical cheap remote control regarding reliably registering and then transmitting each and every button press, so the comparison is of course very limited