Re: Smart TVs, stupid buyers
The "Smart" functionality isn't integral to the basic viewing experience so it effectively sits there just like another set-top box. Even if the manufacturers stop supporting it (and Samsung look they already have on my 6000 series telly - no surprise there), its actually irrelevant. Its would only be important if you relying on the "Smart" functionality for media streaming or VOD or something, and I suspect almost no-one with one of these TVs is (I'm certainly not - I bought it because it has a great picture and a tiny bezel and looks great), as they'll all be plugged into at least one other STB, be it Sky, Cable, Apple TV or whatever.
Waste of effort on the part of the manufacturer? Certainly, but so long as I have lots of spare HDMI ports, I'm not going to worry about it.