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Amazon buys smart camera startup Blink to bolster Amazon Key

Amazon’s smart home ambitions continue with the purchase of Blink. If you’ve never heard of the smart cameras and doorbell from Blink, you’ve truly missed out. The Blink smart cameras are affordable, run on two AA batteries for two years, and have all the features you’d find from the Nest cameras. They’ve carved out a loyal fanbase, and have quickly expanded their product lineup. The company recently announced the Blink smart doorbell and they were working on a “video-centric” home security system.

While Blink’s technology isn’t exciting or innovative, their product fits well within Amazon’s recent march into the smart home space. Plus, Amazon Key could leverage the doorbell, cameras, and the “video-centric” home security system.

Blink outdoor and indoor camera

Amazon will let Blink run separately for now

For the time being, Blink’s products will remain under the Blink brand. Amazon isn’t going to start supporting any of the cameras on their services yet, but don’t expect that to take long. The Blink cameras do support Alexa, but they’ve supported Alexa for a couple of months now.

Blink’s always used Amazon to sell their devices. As smart cameras and doorbells have become more popular their low price and lack of wires, have made them super appealing. Installing the current Amazon Cam can be a pain if you don’t have any outlets near the spot you need to place it. The Blink camera wouldn’t have that problem, plus you won’t have ugly wires running everywhere.

I see how the company fits into Amazon’s plans, but I don’t know why Amazon didn’t build their hardware. This is the first time they’ve bought a company to expand their smart home offerings. Before Amazon has made all their devices in-house, and it shouldn’t be hard for them to build a doorbell or security system.

We’ll have to wait and see how the company fits into Amazon’s plans. You can buy the indoor camera here, the outdoor camera here, and check out more products here.

Let me know what you think about the purchase from Amazon. Are you going to buy one of the cameras or doorbell now, or are you looking for a Nest Cam?

 

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