Looks like the business has to purchase (proprietary?) hardware to install on-premises.
Usefulness will depend on whether the location you are interested in has the required hardware.
Generally, we give the hardware away for free (circumstance dependent). We'd prefer to monetize the data. We don't really want to build a company on $49.99 / mo. There are a lot of other players in that game. Here's a picture of the sensors if you're interested: http://i.imgur.com/zLUMAG8.jpg?1