Amazon to buy smart doorbell startup Ring

Friday, March 2, 2018

On Tuesday representatives from US-based online retailer Amazon.com and smart doorbell company Ring announced the startup company will be acquired by Amazon. Ring builds WiFi-connected video doorbells that allow homeowners to view and talk to people at their door from their smartphone. Ring also sells security cameras.

The deal was not officially announced to have happened, although an Amazon spokesperson told about the acquisition to US television channel CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel).

Analysts suggested the deal could aid the Amazon Key service, which allows Amazon grocery, and other, deliveries to be dropped off inside Amazon Prime members’ homes. Use of Ring WiFi-connected cameras would complement the indoor Cloud Cam Amazon provides to members.

Previously, Ring’s CEO, Jamie Siminoff, remarked the company started when his doorbell wasn’t audible from his shop in his garage. He built a WiFi door bell, he said. Siminoff said sales boosted after his 2013 appearance in a Shark Tank episode where the show panel declined funding the startup. In late 2017, Siminoff appeared on shopping television channel QVC. Ring also settled a lawsuit with competing security company, the ADT Corporation.

Amazon’s Echo smart home speaker product had already been integrated with Ring, by taking voice commands to show the image from a Ring front door camera on an Echo Show device. Amazon had also purchased Blink, a manufacturer of internet-connected security cameras and doorbells, in late 2017.