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Amazon Buys Smart Doorbell Maker Ring For a Reported $1 Billion (cnbc.com)
hyperclocker shares a report from CNBC: Amazon is buying smart doorbell maker Ring, a deal that will allow the company to expand its home security and in-house delivery services. In an email statement to CNBC, Ring's spokesperson confirmed the deal, saying: "We'll be able to achieve even more by partnering with an inventive, customer-centric company like Amazon. We look forward to being a part of the Amazon team as we work toward our vision for safer neighborhoods." Amazon is expected to keep Ring as an independent business, much like it has with its other acquisitions, like Zappos and Twitch, according to GeekWire, which earlier reported details of the deal. Financial details of the move were not disclosed, but Reuters reported it could be worth more than $1 billion, making it one of the largest acquisitions in Amazon's history.
Scraping the bottom for ideas.
How many more of these worthless investments are large firms going to make?
Jeff is the richest person in the world. Evidence suggests that you are not smarter than he is.
very cool, i remember seeing them on shark tank a couple years back!
"When all you have is a Hammer, every problem looks like a nail." Apparently, all Bezos has is money...
Bingo. And fuck off Amazon. I'm not letting you in my house.
What kinda analytics from the smart toilet paper Amazon'll be selling soon (after they buy a smart TP startup named Wipe for $eleventy billion)?
Ewwww
Alexa, show me who is at the door. Do I need to say more?
Amazon hasn't done well with its cloud cameras and key systems. I'd hope that they don't make Ring just as bad.
"Forget the engineers." -Carly Fiorina, briber of MIT Technology Review.
they match with amazon quite nicely, it will be instraesting to see if they can combine with the company they bought before (who actually did smart chips) called blink
now there is no way that blink/ring/flavour of the month actually add any value beyond easy install
IF they produced a version that worked OFFLINE (sent the video to a internal server rather than NOT JUST AWS ) THEN they might actually have something but in truth doing that is actually hard...
pushing things to the "cloud" and letting AWS churn through it is not hard, dont get me wrong thats a good thing to have but its not actually what most people want they want something that works offline and add's features via the services online... some people are happy with that and are early adopters but the devil is in the details and their sales will bottom out in 24 months or so, it would be interesting if they are locking them in performance wise beyond 2/3 years in stock grants
have fun with the lawyers your going to get eaten by the far eastern vendors unless you work out offline...
John
How many more of these worthless investments are large firms going to make?
Jeff is the richest person in the world. Evidence suggests that you are not smarter than he is.
This. Despite motivation theories to the contrary, Jeff is just buying MacKenzie a a unique Ring to make up for a poor Valentine's Day showing.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Now I can kill annoying neighbors no matter where I am
Huge installed base. With their money they could sell it for $50. The number one reason I think they want it is delivery confirmation. Both regular and groceries. It would reduce primarily Fraud and secondarily people stealing from doorsteps. That alone is worth the investment. But I hope their either get rid of the cloud video BS and let you store locally or make it totally free.
If they expand to security cameras and resell security patrols.... (think plain clothes and plenty of cameras) talk about Big Brother. Huge market. They could track theifs by their cell phones and know when they are entering ares they victimize. They can then send patrols into those areas and or put out bulletins to those already there such as regular police. Since they have no direct idea what a person looks like they can profile with less recrimination as to racial profiling and more as to crime statistically increasing when certain people are around. Amazon could totally dominate the security industry.
a horrible, poorly conceived idea that only an idiot would buy
Idiot here. I have a Ring doorbell. I give it 2 out of 5 stars. The concept is ok, but the implementation is terrible. When someone rings the doorbell, I get a notification on my cell phone along with a snapshot of the visitor. The problem is that there is a latency of about 45 seconds, so by the time I get the notification, the visitor has already given up and left.
For the few visitors that stick around long enough, I can communicate with them thru my cell phone, which is nice if I am not home, or if I want more info before I open the door. But, again, the implementation is terrible. The speaker in the doorbell is weak and crappy, and there is a huge amount of latency in the audio. It is practically impossible to have a constructive conversation.
I can't see anything they have that would be worth $1B. The concept is nice, but obvious, so Amazon should be able to roll-their-own implementation. The only rationale that I can see is if Ring has some critical patents that Amazon can either use themselves, or use to block competitors.
Would have been a bit cheaper. But seriously, I'm baffled by mergers and acquisitions. It seems like Amazon could have come up with their own device for a lot less money. Further, General Mills just bought out Blue Buffalo pet food for something like $8 billion. You mean to tell me that General Mills couldn't come up with their own "natural" pet food for less money? But the thing that really pisses me off is that in many cases, a company flat out steals somebody else's idea instead of buying them out. What's up with that?
the visitor has already given up and left
Unless you had your heart set on a spiritually-refreshing talk with a Jehovah's Witness or the opportunity to buy a magazine subscription, I fail to see the downside.
Why can't the just engineer a smart, climate controlled secure outside box? A better mailbox?
-The art of programming is the pursuit of absolute simplicity.
I can't see anything they have that would be worth $1B.
The main thing would be if they already have a lot of customers.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Jeff is the richest person in the world. Evidence suggests that you are not smarter than he is.
Any idiot can make money given sufficient start-up capital. See: Trump's "small loan of a million dollars".
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Since when did your material wealth equate to smartness?
There are many types of smartness. The kind the GPP is talking about is judging the worth of business investments. That tends to correlate well with material wealth.
Perhaps Bezos thought he was buying the One Ring.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Why can't the just engineer a smart, climate controlled secure outside box? A better mailbox?
Great idea. Hopefully it's large enough for a meth-crazed, rabid, bubonic-flea infested wombat. Don't ask; it's a family thing.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
I see your pair of hounds and raise you a giant lutefisk.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Maybe Amazon is just keeping Ring out of the hands of other companies, it probably doesn't NEED it. But all the patents and the customer base are now under Amazon's umbrella and not a competitors. Think of it as a high tech cockblock.
I don't have any need for a Ring, but I know a lot of people that think it's a great idea, especially non-technical types that are convinced that it will make their house safe and will gladly pay the recurring monthly fees to access stuff completely contained on a proprietary site.
The latency is not 45 seconds, it's more like 2-3 seconds. The Mac app is very quick and shows the slowdown isn't in the cloud service.
The problem is the bloat/slowdown in their iOS offering. Part of the issue was the battery slowdown, where I was getting 40+ second connection times. After a new battery, it is around 20 seconds - still too slow.
They need to rethink the mobile app and speed it up a bit.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
Perhaps all you say is true however at least Shanghai Bill puts a name to his comments.
New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
This is a good enough concept for an airBnB where a visitor has a vested interest in getting in contact with you. But this is Amazon we're talking about. Is frigging hard enough to run to the door full speed before the delivery guy drops you a "didn't see you in the 5 seconds I waited" slip and goes on his way.
Stupid part is I checked into an airBnB yesterday that had this technology already in the doorbell. And it looks like it was installed in the 80s. Such an old concept with $1bn? I think it's time I invented a round thing to aid rolling. Maybe I'll give the wheel a cool name like "Roll".
I agree with your 2/5 rating. My Ring Pro has been a pain in the ass. I had to get rid of my mechanical doorbell chime because the power kit that comes with the Ring just wouldn't work. Now the Ring Chime that I had to buy to replace the mechanical chime isn't responding to motion or doorbell activity. But it works if you test the various sound options in the app.
That doesn't surprise me as the Ring Pro itself stops working every month or so. It just dies. The fix is to flip the circuit breaker, which brings it back to life until next time. I replaced my transformer with a more powerful one, that has reviews on Amazon stating it works great with the Ring Pro. The app shows the voltage rating as 'Very Good'.
I will say that I haven't had any packages stolen from my front porch since installing it . My neighbors without a camera at their front door can't say the same. But overall the Ring Pro has been headache after headache. I'm going to check out Nest's offering, which I think is out in March. Maybe Amazon can help, but I think they made a mistake.
What if the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about?
Doorbells are like telephones: They enable completely random people to interrupt whatever you are doing whenever they feel like it to deal with their wants. People only put up with these interruption devices because they grew up with this kind of shenanigans as "normal."
When I bought my current house, the doorbell didn't work.
Attempting to connect it causes the ringer to go continuously, so there's a good chance its miswired (or the switch is borked). I just (re)disconnected it and vowed to get it fixed when I got the motivation to take the trouble/expense to do so. So basically, when the day came that someone actually came to my door to interact with me positively without trying to get something out of me, and they couldn't have just as well left a message for me to get to later. In other words, I needed to be happy afterwards that I'd interrupted what I was doing to interact with them, and didn't want to miss out on an experience like that again.
I've now lived in the house for 20 years with no doorbell.
Jeff is the richest person in the world. Evidence suggests that you are not smarter than he is.
Any idiot can make money given sufficient start-up capital. See: Trump's "small loan of a million dollars".
Not true. Many lottery winners destroy their lives.
Am I the only one that sees a convergence vector here for Amazon. I mean they deliver things to your door. Heck they could even give incentives to Ring with free or discounted shipping. Anyway I think this has more to do with business convergence and a play to own the whole experience. Granted reading about your experience they may need to improve the concept a bit, however one has to think that that will become easier over time, and Amazon's deep coffers could certainly help that. Anyway I see it being built into their delivery system eventually with package notifications etc... It is a way for Amazon to get another foot hold within you home. Heck, I'd expect these things to be networked with Elexa which might also be leveraged for usage. I believe they were also talking about having direct access to homes to drop off packages, this would allow the user to facilitate that.
Perhaps what they have is a few rediculous patents and some really good lawyers.
And an appearance on Shark Tank. No investment there (lucky for Ring after this purchase), but even an appearance gets your product noticed.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
I will say that I haven't had any packages stolen from my front porch since installing it . My neighbors without a camera at their front door can't say the same.
That suggests to me that a visible, imitation camera would have accomplished the same. If you had busted somebody stealing from you, the case would be different, but it sounds like you're just benefiting from having a visible deterrent.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Keep telling yourself this, while hiding behind the AC.
Nest's offering will be $350 and $20 per month if you want to be able to get video or pictures. I like my nest products (Smoke alarms, thermostats), but they are silly expensive. The security cameras are expensive enough that I had to go with another brand because the upfront cost is bad enough but the monthlies are painful.
Ring is a mediocre device for a consumer, but for Amazon it's perfect for their unattended delivery service. But a kit with a video doorbell, and a smart door lock. When you get a delivery, the deliverer shows a unique QR code (unique to that delivery), the doorbell video authenticates, unlocks the door, package delivered, ensures the door is closed, then locks the door. Yey, reduction in human interaction/intervention for deliveries.
Hopefully at least one more.
(I will keep saying this until I get my billion dollar buyout. Then they can stop.)
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
I remember seeing that episode and thinking, "that's dumb, why would anybody invest in that security risk?" And my son, the Shark Tank aficionado, said, "I can't believe Robert didn't make a deal!" Kids have a different perspective on these things.
My coworker has it. The Samsung phone app is so non-laggy, you can have a conversation without frustration. But maybe he just got lucky.
so everything looks like a:
Not sure how you intended to finish that one. :)
"I have a Ring doorbell. I give it 2 out of 5 stars."
Ring has been an established brand in Europe for a while. 2 out of 5 stars is being generous. Most of what they sell is "whatever was cheapest in Shenzhen that week"
"The concept is ok, but the implementation is terrible."
This, in spades.
Ring was ok when it was basic overpriced (and fragile) dumb shit. Occasionally there would be a sale of old stock and it would be worthwhile buying.
The newer "smart" stuff is so terrible that I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole and their 'security' products rate a "Not even with someone else's bargepole" status. Seriously.
"That suggests to me that a visible, imitation camera would have accomplished the same."
Until people simply start using a baseball cap pulled down over their face - which is what happens regularly around my (visible) UK surveillance cameras.
Too bad they don't see the low-mounted ones with far-IR LEDs...
Video doorbells are usually awful pieces of crap and they almost never integrate into a decent DVR system.