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Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring
- arishi 9y agoMore details from Axios - "..although a source calls this Amazon's second-largest acquisition of all time (behind Whole Foods). That would seemingly mean it's above $1.2 billion (the amount Amazon paid for Zappos), which is in line with earlier reports that Ring was fundraising at around a $1 billion valuation." https://www.axios.com/amazon-buying-video-doorbell-company-ring-1519763306-7c7fb313-0bc7-4fbc-a50e-7dbe4a6ab0dd.html https://www.axios.com/amazon-buying-video-doorbell-company-r...
- leggomylibro 9y agoDidn't they just buy another remote video camera company? Or was that Google? It's so hard to keep track of all the new toys that big tech companies keep buying. Either way, talk about a full-court press on getting devices into your home.
- arishi 9y agoThey acquired Ring's competitor Blink In Dec 2017. https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/22/amazon-acquires-connected-camera-and-doorbell-startup-blink/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/22/amazon-acquires-connected-... Yes, it is indeed very confusing :-)
- Digital-Citizen 9y agoPerhaps it was about purchasing the copyrights and patents Ring controls, or purchasing the company most likely to cause problems for Amazon when Amazon rolls out more of their ridiculous home invasion plan marketed as an inside-the-home delivery service. This is the service apparently everyone has been perfectly fine to do without since Amazon began doing business.
- cs702 9y agoAmazon and Google -- and Facebook and a handful of others -- seem to be in a never-ending race to learn everything about everyone everywhere: who you are, where you are, what you do, when you do it, and why do do it. Having cameras and microphones in your house and your neighborhood is a small part of that.
- tjr225 9y agoAlso, how much they can buy your company for.
- willow9886 9y agoDon't forget they're also monitoring people who interact with you (a.k.a. the user of services). When I walk into a friends home who has an Alexa, or a Ring system, it is now tracking me too. The purchaser consented, but I never consented to being monitored in a residence/dwelling where I would otherwise have the reasonable expectation of privacy! There was a good Gizmodo article about this called The House That Spied on Me [1]. [1] https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-spied-on-me-1822429852 https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-spied-on-me-1822429852
- prostoalex 9y agoDo you have expectations of privacy on someone else’s private property? Seems fair to assume surveillance in retail establishments or banks. The only exception I can think of is rented private property (hotel rooms, airbnb’s).
- burnte 9y agoYou do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy when in someone else's private property. That's also why you can be videoed by security cameras in stores, hotels, casinos, etc.
- escapecharacter 9y agoIs Apple the only big company in the “we respect your privacy” game? I honestly would love to know another.
- tostitos1979 9y agoI'm surprised this isn't at the top of the frontpage. This is big vindication of all hardware startups. Will VCs go big in this category after this series of exits?
- the-pigeon 9y agoHow so? Hardware startups have been bought before. This isn't a unique event. I worked for a hardware startup for a couple of years and VCs being cautious about the category is very well deserved. It is easily an order of magnitude harder to develop a successful hardware product than a success software product. And even after you've sold a million of them a design defect could show itself that makes all million of them break and destroys your entire company overnight. It's doable but very hard.
- whoisjuan 9y agoI don't think this validates this space at all. If your only exit strategy is to get acquired by a big 5 you're already in trouble. Hardware is pretty freaking hard. Just look at recent examples of public hardware companies: FitBit / GoPro. Both doing like crap, struggling to maintain their grab on the market and looking for acquirers. Honestly, I think this is a very unattractive sector, at least in this side of the world. Most serious hardware contenders are and will keep coming from China (DJI, Xiaomi, Yi, etc).
- brlewis 9y agoBusiness is hard, whether it's hardware or software. I think a lot of software-based companies wish they were "doing like crap" the way Fitbit is -- navigating through a couple years of unprofitability using a large pile of cash gained through years of profit. Disclaimer: I work for Fitbit but speak only for myself.
- tostitos1979 9y agoI've generally been impressed of FitBit's business savvy. They get hw well (keep BOM/per-unit costs under control). It was particularly instructive to see the fate that befell Pebble (glad that fitbit hired a lot of those folks, etc.).
- cwperkins 9y agoMakes sense, as Amazon gets further into delivery this provides a complimentary service to help keep packages secure and let customers see who shows up at the door. It would be interesting if someday you could also let a courier in remotely.
- lozaning 9y agoSomeday is long past, they've been offering to unlock your door if you've got their lock and cam for some time now. https://www.amazon.com/b?&node=17285120011 https://www.amazon.com/b?&node=17285120011
- Numberwang 9y agoAh, that explains it. They want to use it for their delivery men to get access to peoples homes by image recognition tech.
- marlonbarz 9y agoRing was on the TV Show Shark Tank, and all the sharks passed on the deal. It was $700K for 10% of the company. And now it sold for more than 1 billion $.
- sharkweek 9y agoThere was just another example of this - A company called Plated, Cuban agreed to invest during the show then backed out during due diligence. I guess Mr. Wonderful found out and called them up to invest later. Plated just got sold to Albertsons for 300m, and O’Leary claims to have made 1300%+ return on his investment. Poor Mark. I love the show, I don’t think any of the sharks are “dumb money,” but I don’t think it’s an accurate representation of what a good investment for most businesses should look like.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- acjohnson55 9y agoIf you like Shark Tank, check out The Pitch podcast. It's very similar in concept, but in execution, I like it a lot better: - It's one pitch per episode, which allows a bit more depth - It's narrated, which let's the host cut in to explain nuances - They circle back to find out what happened after the pitch if the investments actually close - No gimmick companies - No Kevin O'Leary
- kevincennis 9y agoThanks for posting this. Very excited to check it out.
- oh_sigh 9y agoKevin O'Leary is great. If you are on the benefitting side of what people call 'the worst deal of all time', you must be a pretty good businessman[1]. And I bet The Pitch host isn't a member of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. [1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4467013/Mattel-sale-ends-3.6bn-fiasco.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4467013/Mattel-sale-ends...
- gnicholas 9y agoWhat does this mean for existing Ring customers? Considering the privacy implications and the fact that Amazon can/will do a lot more with this data than Ring did, is there a way for Ring customers to opt-out of future integration into the Amazon ecosystem? I imagine there are a decent chunk of Ring customers who would have not purchased the device had it been sold by Amazon in the first place.
- notatoad 9y ago>I imagine there are a decent chunk of Ring customers who would have not purchased the device had it been sold by Amazon in the first place. I have a hard time feeling too much sympathy for these people. The inevitable conclusion for most of these heavily-vc-funded home automation startups is an acquisition by one of the tech giants. If you are boycotting the tech giants for whatever reason, you should therefore be boycotting any startup that might be an acquisition target. also, if you're putting video cameras in your home that push footage to a server you don't control (or even one that you do) i'm not sure you can call yourself privacy conscious.
- gnicholas 9y ago> The inevitable conclusion for most of these heavily-vc-funded home automation startups is an acquisition by one of the tech giants. You're right that this was an obvious outcome, in retrospect. I wonder what percent of their customers saw this coming. My sense is that they're not just selling to early adopters now—my retired aunt has been telling me about Ring for quite some time. > If you are boycotting the tech giants for whatever reason, you should therefore be boycotting any startup that might be an acquisition target. Huh, so if I avoid FB then I shouldn't use anything that they might acquire? Seems kind of tough, since they go out and buy things like Oculus, which was a bit out of left field.
- notatoad 9y agoif you're going to feel betrayed when a startup gets acquired by FB then you should avoid all startups. if you can be understanding about a company you don't like acquiring one you do, then buy whatever. just don't be shocked when a startup follows the same route as literally every other startup.
- KiDD 9y agoThis sucks... Ring has been providing subpar service and promises that remain unfulfilled. It was Cleary working on cutting costs to get ready for a sale.
- xkjkls 9y agoWhy wouldn't an acquisition from Amazon help them achieve scale and meet some of those promises?
- amarant 9y agoWait, THE ring? Of another ring?
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoAmazon now has Blink and Ring. I wonder how soon "You're out of paper towels" and "Your paper towels are on the porch" will come about? Bonus points for "the neighbor kid just stole your package" alert.
- wavefunction 9y ago>the neighbor kid just stole your package Facial recognition is rather trivial and common-place these days I suppose but the association of that face with your neighbor's kid seems to take it a step further into invasive territory.
- conception 9y agoI believe the Nest cams already do this, with more companies scheduled to add the feature.
- JoblessWonder 9y agoThey have the ability to unlock your front door, so "your paper towels were replaced on your holder" is a legit option.
- xkjkls 9y agoWhen am I just going to have a person come to wipe my butt?
- TheGrassyKnoll 9y agoWith 10000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, a butt wiping robot might be very successful.
- letsgetphysITal 9y agoThey also have the Dash buttons. The whole process is literally pressing the button next to where the TP is kept, going out to work, and coming back to find twelve rolls of your brand sat in your hallway.
- Slansitartop 9y agoCrap. I guess I won't be buying one then. Amazon also just gobbled up the maker of my home security cameras (Blink). I really would prefer my home monitoring devices to be separate from the giant tech companies that I'm trusting less and less.
- ronaru 9y agothe main reason I bought Ring (avoided upcoming nest hello), now I am SOL. Should look closer at their privacy agreements. With Amazon a the helm, they can mine data much more effectively.
- drawkbox 9y agoAmazon is typically a good steward in their acquisitions though. Twitch.tv, Zappos, imdb, audible as some examples of how they really do keep these purchases as pretty close to the original/successful idea of the company and sometimes even better. I'd say Amazon are maybe the best at not destroying what they buy. Amazon usually buys because the company is a success and not just for tech or to shut down / acquihire etc.
- Slansitartop 9y agoThat's comforting from one angle, but I'm still concerned about the privacy implications. I feel like a giant megacorp like Amazon is in a much better position to both mine the data and also be more resistant to criticism.
- drawkbox 9y agoTrue but as Ring progressed and the metrics guys come in, they would have been selling that data anyways. At least now you know what it will be used for, Amazon home delivery systems and to sell you products on Amazon. Amazon is in that stage of power where they are still beneficial and innovating, kinda like Microsoft with the desktop/internet in the 90s and AT&T with their labs that made C++ and the modern application/software in the 80s, even Apple in the 00s with the smart phone and their power. I think when Amazon stops innovating or get to the state where they aren't fully research and development focused, that is where you have to worry when revenues get tight and they have to start selling your private data. Right now ONLY Amazon wants that from this acquisition, they don't want anyone else to have it, Ring probably would have had to let others have it earlier.
- KiDD 9y agoI assume Ring will never give the promised HomeKit support now...
- marter 9y agoI just asked them on Twitter and they said it was “coming soon”
- aviv 9y agoOn a side note, I believe this year we will see them acquire either RingCentral or Dialpad.
- clarkbw 9y agoThere goes any hope of the HomeKit support promise coming through in the Ring Pro.
- KiDD 9y agoFirst thing I thought too... I'm glad I've been investing in real IPcams and setup my own security system. HomeKit will never come to ring
- Osmium 9y agoPerhaps a stupid question, but where does the $1bn. valuation come from? Amazon already make hardware, including cloud cameras, would it have been so hard for them to make a doorbell in-house?
- xkjkls 9y agoCompanies generally make these types of acquisitions for two reasons: customers or technology. Since the technology Amazon already has for the most part, they're obviously acquiring them to leverage their customer set (... or prevent a competitor from doing the same).
- acjohnson55 9y agoJust guessing, but perhaps they see it creating considerable leverage to gain or retain Prime subscribers in a way that would be costly to replicate.
- prostoalex 9y agoRing has some existing cash flow through their video monitoring business. There’s also some premium to be had for tight integration options - current Ring doorbell owners would likely opt for a Ring indoor camera (if one existed) versus competitor’s, just to avoid the hassle of dealing with two apps and paying for two subscription plans.
- evgen 9y agoGiven that Amazon just bought Blink a few months ago you can see the shape of the Amazon smart home ecosystem coming together...
- prostoalex 9y agoThe Blink acquisition is less obvious to me, considering Amazon already had a branded Dropcam competitor at pretty competitive price https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Amazon-Cloud-Cam/dp/B01C4UY0JK https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Amazon-Cloud-Cam/dp/B01C4...
- runwerks 9y agosafe to assume homekit compatibility is not going to be released?
- Jyaif 9y agoinb4 SkyBell stops being sold on Amazon.
- kraig911 9y ago"How would you subject the world to constant monitoring at all times?" Winston asked O'Brien. "I'll make them pay for it. Enjoy it even." replied O'Brien That's how the book should've ended.
- blackrock 9y agoWhat is Amazon's angle here? To get a video and photo ID of every person, living at an address? Then they will run this through a face recognition deep learning AI, to get a digital facial ID of everyone. Now, they just one-upped Facebook. Where they know who lives where, and what type of person they are. Male, female, young, old, skinny, fat, short, tall, ethnicity, clothing style preferences, music preferences, healthy or sick. Now, you don't even need to fill out those advertising questionnaires on who you are. Amazon will just collect it automatically from this Ring doorbell camera. Now, they have a definitive demographic information on you, for targeted advertising. They can either email you, or snail mail you. Since now, they know exactly who you are. As well as who else lives with you. And when you sign onto Amazon, the ads will be targeted directly at you. 1. Hey, it looks like you have a daughter at home. Do you want to buy her a nice little necklace for Christmas? We have a nice selection on sale here. 2. Or if you are black. Hey, if you spend $20 on Amazon today, we can get you free movie tickets to see the new Black Panther movie. 3. Or if you are Asian. Hey, there is a new Chinese restaurant opening up in your area. Spend $50 on Amazon today, and we can get you a free lunch special.
- deegles 9y agoThis isn't an apocalyptic scenario to a lot of people... Facebook and Google are doing very well selling ads.
- demoo 9y agoInterested how this plays into the best in class vision that Amazon pursues. Does this acquisition allows them to take their Amazon Key service (Cloud Cam + service + tech) to the next level?
- blang 9y agoWhile I do think I understand why Amazon would want to purchase Ring (the company), I don't fully understand why consumers would want to buy Ring (the product). The number one use I seem to see from it is people taking video and posting it on nextdoor (package thief alert, car prowler alert, etc.) followed by other people talking about how the neighborhood is going downhill and lamenting about how the police don't do anything with their Ring video. I guess this is my attitude on most of the home security field. It always seems like the devices have a ton of false positives that just give the owners something else to worry about, and the companies that sell these things continue to do so because it gives owners the illusion that buying these devices give them some sort of control.
- ehsankia 9y agoDo you really not see the value of a live feed of who's at your door and a clear 2 way audio feed? The current existing solution either have really poor quality, are complicated to install (require technician), and don't integrate with your smartphone. I'm not talking about the Ring specifically, there are other competitors too such as Nest Hello, but the idea seems pretty straight-forward and valuable to anyone with a door.
- blang 9y agoHonestly, not really. Or at least nothing so far that has compelled me to buy one.
- freeone3000 9y agoHow is it valuable, exactly? What's the gain?
- cthalupa 9y ago1) Theft deterrent. Not getting your house broken into is more about not being the most attractive target than anything else. Video cameras, motion detector lights, no bushes blocking vision to windows, etc, all make an impact. 2) Seeing who is at the door without potentially having let them know that you're there. In my house, there are glass windows to both sides of the door. I cannot go look through the peep hole without them know I am there. I purchased one after I had several days of a person (people?) ringing my doorbell in between 3 AM and 5 AM, then driving around the neighborhood slowly in their car. I certainly wasn't going to go answer it or announce my presence in case something sketchy was going on. 3) Communicating with someone at the door if you need to. I sleep late on weekends - sometimes I need to sign for a package. With the ring, I can let them know that I'm there and just need to throw on some clothes, rather than them leaving. Or if I'm in the restroom. 4) I want to keep an eye on the front porch while I'm gone, and get alerts on motion detection. I can catch some neighborhood kids being stupid, or something stealing a package, etc etc. 5) If they're leaving a package that isn't signature required, and I'm not home, I can ask them to put it behind the bushes, etc.
- KiDD 9y agoRIP HomeKit Integration Promises
- tehlike 9y agoCurious if amazon would buy irobot.
- yorby 9y agoirobot has lots of sensors (spying potential)
- fma 9y agoI had just recently purchased a Ring doorbell. I debated between Ring and Skybell. I should have gone with Skybell. Trying not have 1 company know everything about me (I know...probably impossible).
- aqsheehy 9y agoHome login system
- fernly 9y agoSudden vision: you request Amazon home delivery -- the delivery person comes to the door, holds up a smartphone showing a nonce QR code, the Ring doorbell checks the nonce with Amazon, says, "Checks out" and unlocks the door.
- freeone3000 9y agoYes, this is an actual service they offer - https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Amazon-Key-In-Home-Kit/dp/B00KCYQGXE https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Amazon-Key-In-Home-Kit/dp...
- alant 9y agoSeems like a defensive move against Google's Nest Hello video doorbell https://nest.com/doorbell/nest-hello/overview/ https://nest.com/doorbell/nest-hello/overview/ no?
- megy 9y agoYes, clearly video doorbells are going to be the next smartphones.
- 908087 9y agoSo in the future it won't even be possible to visit a friend's front door without being tracked by Google/Amazon/Facebook/etc? A while back a friend of mine bought one of these "cloud"-connected doorbells, and hadn't even considered the privacy implications. After I explained it to him, he thankfully returned it and went back to using a normal doorbell. People who install these should be forced to install a sign just outside of the camera's view informing visitors that, by proceeding to the door, they agree to Amazon/Google/whoever's privacy policy and ToS.
- cavisne 9y agoNot an original thought but its fascinating how much extra information Amazon has in these acquisitions than a normal company. When such a big part of Ring's sales are through amazon they can figure out things like * How many people search specifically for the brand Ring * If a knockoff appears first do people buy that instead * What is the growth in searches and purchases overall * Why do people return the product These are things even Ring wouldn't know. Its not too far fetched to think you could build a valuation engine off the information Amazon has and compare the cost of cloning the product line to acquiring the company automatically.
- wickawic 9y agoAmazon gives loans to sellers; they have more info on their suppliers’ businesses than a bank could ever dream of.
- Haydos585x2 9y agoI suppose you could go even further with it if they had things like hosting with AWS. With the product information you mentioned and any technical information they could pick up through AWS I'm sure they know exactly what to pay for something. Just gotta hope that an employee doesn't leak it one day.
- bingobob 9y agoi guess no google assistant support now for ring products
- Apocryphon 9y agoAugust Home really missed the boat: https://seekingalpha.com/news/3332326-information-amazon-offered-100m-august-releasing-key https://seekingalpha.com/news/3332326-information-amazon-off...
- elipsey 9y agoWe were just talking about this at a lock picking meetup (lots programmers there too). The consensus seemed to be that if it has all the security problems of IoT plus all the security problems of doors... that would be a lot of fun for us.
- test6554 9y agoI had to return several of these after finally figuring out that the voltage on my doorbell was higher than the maximum supported by ring.
- coss 9y agoI wonder if this is for their in home delivery. Have ring devices recognize valid amazon delivery employees and let them in to drop off packages/food. VIP service - stock your fridge.
- elvirs 9y agothe word 'privacy implications' gets thrown around here so much and I'm wondering what exactly can amazon do with a video of mailman walking up to your doorstep that could violate your privacy?