Amazon has recently shelled out over $1 billion for Ring, a smart home security company most known for its video doorbell series. This acquisition comes shortly after Amazon had secured another video doorbell service named Blink for $90 million back in January.
Ring's presence within Amazon's arsenal of technologies will certainly have a huge impact on the company's Key platform, a service that effectively combines an advanced security camera and lock for keyless entry, guest access, as well as in-home deliveries.
Ring's founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff has spoken out about the effectiveness of Amazon Key, noting how "Amazon is both an investor in Ring as well as a strong partner, so we have a lot of respect there but, in this instance with what they’ve done, I was never a fan of how this was put together. I don’t believe the seal around the home should ever be breached by a third-party company. No matter how many cameras you have and how much control you have over it, I just don’t think it’s a good idea."
Siminoff reiterates his reservations by admitting that "to me it’s backwards because Amazon is usually so thoughtful around scale and when you’re doing like 50 million interactions a day, even if the smallest percentage – like 0.0001% goes wrong – that could be like five deaths a day!" He also explains how his company has "a lot of ideas around how to do it differently. Long term, the way we’re looking at things is a better fit for consumers and for companies themselves."
While Ring may have been acquired by Amazon, they will continue to function independently, with Siminoff keeping his post as CEO amid this procurement.