Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Court battle brewing over contentious Joburg CCTV by-law

      7 July 2025

      Biometrics boss slams home affairs over R10 ID query fee

      7 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      Rain’s new Loop lets you carry your Wi-Fi and music everywhere

      7 July 2025

      Medupi unit 4 rejoins grid, easing winter load shedding fears

      7 July 2025
    • World

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025

      Jony Ive’s first AI gadget could be … a pen

      30 June 2025

      Bumper orders for Xiaomi’s YU7 SUV heighten threat to Tesla

      27 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on data governance in hybrid cloud environments

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on cloud cost management in Microsoft Azure

      26 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » World » Why Amazon spent $1bn on a doorbell company

    Why Amazon spent $1bn on a doorbell company

    By Agency Staff5 March 2018
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Last week, Amazon.com bought the Santa Monica, California-based smart home equipment maker Ring for an estimated US$1bn in cash. Though filled with less import than the company’s $13.4bn acquisition of Whole Foods Market last year, the deal was the second largest in Amazon’s history. And like all acquisitions, it gives us a rare glimpse into the way Jeff Bezos sees the future.

    In the short term, Ring gives Amazon another piece in its Alexa puzzle and a leg up in its race against Google and Apple to control homes that will increasingly be filled with connected appliances. Alexa is a nice novelty now, great for serving up the weather, reading the news and hosting the occasional trivia game. But it will be really useful when it’s the hub that lets people use their voice to arm their security systems, open locked doors and flash video of the person who’s ringing the doorbell out front. Google understands this as well; the new $229 Nest doorbell will come with a free Google Home Mini when it starts shipping this spring.

    In the short term, Ring gives Amazon another piece in its Alexa puzzle and a leg up in its race against Google and Apple to control homes

    Alexa currently works with a host of third-party smart home products. But owning Ring’s varied assortment of video doorbells, security cameras and accessories allows Amazon to accelerate their development and make them exclusive to Alexa. (It bought a similar company, Blink, last year.) Amazon can also do the typical Amazon thing and lower prices, probably by incorporating the optional subscription plans for keeping recorded video into the soup of benefits that is a Prime membership.

    There’s also a medium-term benefit to adding Ring. Package theft, aka “porch pirates”, is a rampant problem in much of the US, one that has required Amazon delivery people to start e-mailing customers photographs of packages left by the front door, and which, in the past, has forced the company to restrict same-day delivery from neighbourhoods with high crime rates. Last year, Amazon introduced a home camera and a service called Amazon Key, which automatically opens doors for verified delivery people. Amazon Key works with so-called “smart locks” made by other companies. Ring doesn’t sell door locks just yet, but you can imagine a day when Amazon owns all the components to make such a service work.

    Implications

    The implications of the Amazon-Ring deal are really interesting to contemplate when we start thinking farther out. We know Amazon wants to deliver groceries. But leaving bags of kale and cartons of milk outside for hours doesn’t work, and many Amazon Fresh subscribers aren’t crazy about accumulating those bulky blue totes filled with dry ice. When Amazon is behind your home security system, your doorbells and door locks, Amazon workers will be able to walk in, unpack the bags and bring the milk right to the refrigerator.

    But why stop with groceries? With its endless appetites, Amazon wants to expand in the massive home-services category, fertile ground for companies like Handy Technologies and Thumbtack. Imagine sitting at school or in your office and being able to buzz in the cable guy or a plumber after verifying they are who they say they are with live video on your phone. Or we can go even further: the Amazon front door and security system could one day open for your trusted housekeeper, dog walker or exterminator, and no one else.

    To keep growing at 30%/year, Amazon has to start selling us services, not just stuff. The Ring acquisition, with its smart doorbells and security cameras, is another step along that path. Rivals should beware: Amazon’s move into smart home devices is going to give all new meaning to the words “lock in”.  — Reported by Brad Stone, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP

     



    Amazon Google Ring Whole Foods Market
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleGovernment faces more criticism over Woan plan
    Next Article Oscar winners 2018

    Related Posts

    Jony Ive’s first AI gadget could be … a pen

    30 June 2025

    Why Google Workspace and Gemini are a gamechanger for small businesses

    30 June 2025

    Next-generation analytics offerings transform SA retailers

    26 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei launches next-gen fibre-to-the-room solution

    7 July 2025

    Remote monitoring tools: IT lifesavers or hacker gateways?

    7 July 2025

    The school placement crisis is getting worse

    7 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.