Amazon Steps Further Into the Integrated Home Business with “Ring” Acquisition

Amazon is making further moves into the home security business.  Amazon in the process of acquiring Ring, which is the company that makes smart doorbells.  If you’re not familiar with the product, basically Ring is a doorbell that also has a camera on it.  The camera allows you to see who is at your door.  You can see the person on your tablet or smartphone.  You can also talk to the person on the phone as well.  The smart doorbell has a ton of other features as well – like being able to spy on your kids playing in the yard, but that’s not the reason that Amazon is making the purchase.

Amazon is getting further and further into the smart home space.  We don’t know the terms of the deal, but it’s expected that Amazon will keep the core Ring business intact while finding ways to integrate its work into the Amazon ecosystem.  It’s also estimated that the deal will cost Amazon around $1 billion.  But this is a huge acquisition for Amazon, and well worth the money. But this isn’t the only recent acquisition in this realm of a connected home.  Amazon recently purchased Blink, which is a company that manufactures wireless security cameras.

After that, Amazon also launched a Key service for Prime members that allows couriers to access your home through the use of smart locks and cameras.  Which is why it’s no surprise that the Cloud Cam is becoming a cornerstone of Amazon’s smart home business.  So why make all these acquisitions?  It seems as though Amazon wants to get more into the Key service, and what better way to do that, than to offer all the product one needs to utilize that service?  Many people scoffed at the idea of the Key service, but I think it’s great.

In addition, this could also be a less than subtle attempt to counter the Google Nest.  Nest has been gradually branching out themselves as they introduced their Hello video doorbell.  In general, this is becoming the way of the world.  Having a connected home is the way that people want to be moving.  Having Alexa integrated into different home systems is extremely convenient.  People who have the Ring doorbell already know what kind of great device it is.  People that don’t, don’t seem to understand what kind of freedom it gives you.

But maybe it’s like that with anything. You don’t really know what it can do for you until you have it and you start using it.  An Apple Watch is a good example.  People are always saying bad things about the Watch, basically saying that it doesn’t do anything.  But it does, and until you use it, you don’t realize just how valuable it actually is.  That’s why I think this is an incredibly smart move on Amazon’s part.  Perhaps you will be able to see who is at your door through the Amazon Echo Show?  Or maybe you will be able to talk to someone at your door through your Echo?  While I don’t know what Amazon will do in terms of the hardware and software, I think it’s a really great acquisition on their part.