Amazon just acquired smart home startup Blink
Amazon wants to be inside your home, not just dropping off packages at your door.
Now, the book-seller-turned-retail-giant is acquiring home security camera startup, Blink. The companies announced the deal on Friday.
Blink offers wireless home security systems, powered by batteries rather than needing to be plugged into an electric outlet. One camera unit sells for $99 on Amazon. A three-camera set costs $229 on Amazon.
"As one of their distributors, we already know customers love their home security cameras and monitoring systems. We’re excited to welcome their team and invent together on behalf of customers," an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an email to Mashable.
The acquisition aligns with Amazon's effort to offer more home devices. Amazon has already impressed customers with its smart speaker Amazon Echo, which competes with Google Home and the soon-to-be-released Apple HomePod. It has Fire TV for streaming content on television, which competes with Google Chromecast and Apple TV. Amazon has also been growing AmazonBasics, its division of home products.
For Blink customers, changes doesn't seem to be coming immediately.
"We’ll continue to operate under the Amazon umbrella selling and supporting the same great products you know and love. It’s Day 1 for us at Amazon, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can deliver to our customers together," reads the press release from Blink.
A future goal for Amazon is to inspire more people to become Amazon-loyal customers with Amazon-filled households.
Topics Amazon Amazon Echo
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
