Amazon to Acquire Ring for ‘More Than $1 Billion’

GeekWire:

Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Ring, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based maker of video cameras, doorbells and other smart home technologies, GeekWire has learned. The companies are expected to announce the acquisition this afternoon.

The surprise acquisition marks the latest move by the Seattle-based tech giant into the smart home technology market. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Reuters puts the deal at more than $1 billion. Amazon is expected to treat the Ring deal similar to past acquisitions such as Zappos, Twitch and Audible, pursuing product and feature integrations where appropriate but maintaining the Ring brand and largely allowing the company to continue operating as it has in the past.

I’m not surprised in the least that Amazon would want to sell video monitoring doorbells, but I’m a little surprised they acquired Ring rather than just creating their own hardware. Maybe Ring already has more brand recognition than I realize?

I’ve been thinking about getting a Ring doorbell. I’m not sure if this deal makes me more likely or less likely to do so. I’m skeptical about the actual utility of a lot of “smart home” products, but a doorbell camera you can monitor from anywhere really does seem compelling.

★ Tuesday, 27 February 2018