Jeff Bezos rings in changes on his horizon
The purchase of smart home equipment maker Ring provides a rare glimpse into the way Bezos sees Amazon’s future in service provision
San Francisco — Last week Amazon.com bought the Santa Monica, California-based smart home equipment maker Ring for an estimated $1bn in cash. Though filled with less import than the company’s $13.4bn acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, the deal was the second-largest in Amazon’s history. And, as with all acquisitions, it provides a rare glimpse into the way Jeff Bezos sees the future. In the short term Ring gives Amazon another piece in its Alexa puzzle and a leg up in its race against Google and Apple to control homes that will increasingly be filled with connected appliances. Alexa is a nice novelty now, great for serving up the weather, reading the news and hosting the occasional trivia game. But it will be really useful when it’s the hub that lets people use their voice to arm their security systems, open locked doors and flash video of the person who’s ringing the doorbell out front. Google understands this as well; the new $229 Nest doorbell will come with a free Google...
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