Platforms are for building systems

If you are building a one-off, non-connected device, you can get by without a platform.

This is why so many design-shops don't get platforms -- they are designing something then moving on to the next project.

But if you are building a connected system, you have a much bigger problem to solve.

You now have a distributed system, and distributed systems are hard.

You are now living on the Internet with all its associated security concerns.

You have a system that has the potential to do so much more than it is doing now.

You have a system that has almost unlimited potential to be expanded.

You (potentially) have a platform.