One great example/case for this would be Aura Frames (recommended to me by a few folks here when I posted an Ask HN) [0]

If the company disappears... what happens to the devices and the cloud storage?

I've been really enjoying the product (it's really well done, the mobile app works perfectly well) but it's a scary thought.

I also found this Reddit thread [1] with some language from the company supposedly saying they would do their best to launch alternative tooling if they disappeared, but I can't find this language anywhere else online.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45341781

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/comments/1b8vei3/wha...

Probably be the same as the email addresses for the Kodak Pulse Frame, or Sony Dash, both really awesome products that the manufacturer just killed the backend services and bricked them to an extent.

I have had an itch to disect an Aura frame and do something akin to the Tonie Box jailbreak. But I am too afraid of being responsible for bricking our frame and I can't justify spending the money on one just for R&D.