Remember Spark Labs from Kickstarter? The company raised a bunch of funding after launching Spark Core, its open source Wi-Fi dev kit board for the Internet of Things (IoT). Soon after, it was the Spark Core, Photon, then the Internet Button; all Wi-Fi related products that did pretty well. The startup is now back on Kickstarter for hopefully another round of success, this time with a new project. It's dubbed Spark Electron, a cellular development board hoping to change the way cellular carriers work with electronics projects, by far the trickiest step in simplifying the IoT.

The little board runs for just $39 or $59, for 2G or 3G capability (respectively). Tech Hive describes it as a “cellular-connected Arduino with a SIM card”, but it has more than that. Along with a $2.99/month data plan, it comes with an ARM processor, 128KB of RAM, 1MB of flash memory, and a USB port (Popular Science).

Making a smart device is as easy as plugging Spark Electron into a breadboard and connecting it to other hardware. A GPS chip could easily work with the board for a pet tracker. Sensors could be used to create a remote weather station that could report to you. Easy. However, where internet service is usually the hardest and most expensive aspect of all of this, Spark takes the worry away. Because this device also functions as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Spark can “cut deals” with cellular providers, towers, and other infrastructure, then sell its own service to its customers. Those same cell towers that give internet to you and your neighbor's phones could now be used for your own creative products, and it won't cost much. Communication sent between IoT devices are minute and simple, requiring maybe an extra megabyte of data per month (Popular Science).

Users simply work with Spark OS, the company's cloud-based operating system, to do all the connectivity and needle work. Nearly anything can then be created. Spark CEO Zach Supalla explained that “seeing people create things with the Wi-Fi toolkits that really should have cellular-connectivity, like agricultural products”, sparked his interest for Spark Electron. The company's continual presence on Kickstarter is not for more money, which they already have, but to tap into new communities and companies that could be inspired to create new products using Spark Electron. Currently seeking $50,000, the company already has nearly $4.9 million raised from venture backing.