Home security camera company Blink bought out by Amazon
After fulfilling a $1 million crowd-funding campaign for a debut security camera, shipping a second, and announcing a third Blink has been bought by Amazon for undisclosed terms, likely dashing any hopes for HomeKit integration.
Following a 2014 crowdfunding round for a debut product, Blink has since released two completely wireless security cameras. The newly announced $99 Blink Video Doorbell the company claims will function for two years with ten five-second video events per day on a pair of lithium-ion batteries.
"If you own one of our systems, nothing changes for now. We'll continue to operate under the Amazon umbrella selling and supporting the same great products you know and love," write Blink in a post on its homepage. "It's Day 1 for us at Amazon, and we're looking forward to seeing what we can deliver to our customers together."
Blink products already support Alexa, but aren't more integrated with other services that Amazon offers. It also offers IFTTT support.
Blink hardware can be purchased for a minimum of $99 for either the eponymous Blink interior camera, or the coming soon Blink Video Doorbell. The exterior Blink XT with IR night vision is $129.
Users monitoring the feeds by themselves over wi-fi is free, but 4G cellular compatibility costs $9.99 per month, with another $10 added on to that for third-party professional monitoring.
Following a 2014 crowdfunding round for a debut product, Blink has since released two completely wireless security cameras. The newly announced $99 Blink Video Doorbell the company claims will function for two years with ten five-second video events per day on a pair of lithium-ion batteries.
"If you own one of our systems, nothing changes for now. We'll continue to operate under the Amazon umbrella selling and supporting the same great products you know and love," write Blink in a post on its homepage. "It's Day 1 for us at Amazon, and we're looking forward to seeing what we can deliver to our customers together."
Blink products already support Alexa, but aren't more integrated with other services that Amazon offers. It also offers IFTTT support.
Blink hardware can be purchased for a minimum of $99 for either the eponymous Blink interior camera, or the coming soon Blink Video Doorbell. The exterior Blink XT with IR night vision is $129.
Users monitoring the feeds by themselves over wi-fi is free, but 4G cellular compatibility costs $9.99 per month, with another $10 added on to that for third-party professional monitoring.
Comments
https://www.wired.com/story/snowden-haven-app-turns-phone-into-home-security-system/
Interesting!
I wouldn’t have minded HomKit incompatibility so much - especially when they announced the $99 door bell - but I don’t want my house monitored by cameras owned by companies who make money off knowing more about me. I can just see it: in some future “Terms of Service” update, there’ll be some fine print about Amazon being now allowed to “parse” my video clips stored on their servers to better “serve” me. Next thing you know i’ll start seeing Miele vacuum cleaner ads because they recognized my vacuum model in one of those clips :-(
That last part has always worried me: Long term, how were they going to support their business? Now I’m thinking that with Amazon behind them they’re going to be around for a long time. This might become just another one of the things I get bundled into my Prime membership.
I’m also hoping for better integration with the Alexa service. Being able to tell my Echo Show “Alexa, let me see the Front Door camera” would be really useful. Not an Alexa or Amazon fan? Well then I guess this won’t appeal to you.
By the way, I don’t see this as so much of a Kickstarter issue as it is an Internet-of-Things issue. We are always at the mercy of the makers/service providers, and I’ve already had several products become useless because the company desupported them, changed their terms of service, or folded completely.
In this case I see this a positive move that may provide long-term security and improve a product I’m already quite happy with. I hope I’m not wrong about that!