How does the IMP001 or IMP002 link up with my developer account? How does it just know? In other words, if I delete the device from my developer account, once I reconnect the device to the internet it then shows up in my developer account again. How?
You gave your account details when you blinked it up.
When you perform a BlinkUp with the Electric Imp app, you end up passing whatever is required to get online, along with an account token (for the account the app is signed into).
This information is stored locally on the imp, and used whenever it tries to connect. First it attempts to join the specified network - and if it successfully connects, the devices talks to the server to say who it is (deviceID) and what account it’s registered with.
When you delete a device from your IDE - you’re essentially removing the relationship that says that that device belongs to your account, but it doesn’t do anything to the device itself.
So when a device that you’ve deleted from the IDE (but that is still associated with your account on the hardware) connects to our server, it acts the same way as the first time it connected to your account. It says “I’m device XYZ and I belong to account 123” - and the IDE goes “Oh ok - I don’t know anything about you, so you go into Unassigned Devices”
(Also Fairy Dust - a lot of fairy dust)