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Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

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Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#91

What does this mean for existing Ring customers? Considering the privacy implications and the fact that Amazon can/will do a lot more with this data than Ring did, is there a way for Ring customers to opt-out of future integration into the Amazon ecosystem? I imagine there are a decent chunk of Ring customers who would have not purchased the device had it been sold by Amazon in the first place.

>I imagine there are a decent chunk of Ring customers who would have not purchased the device had it been sold by Amazon in the first place. I have a hard time feeling too much sympathy for these people. The inevitable conclusion for most of these heavily-vc-funded home automation startups is an acquisition by one of the tech giants. If you are boycotting the tech giants for whatever reason, you should therefore be b…

> The inevitable conclusion for most of these heavily-vc-funded home automation startups is an acquisition by one of the tech giants.

You're right that this was an obvious outcome, in retrospect. I wonder what percent of their customers saw this coming. My sense is that they're not just selling to early adopters now—my retired aunt has been telling me about Ring for quite some time.

> If you are boycotting the tech giants for whatever reason, you should therefore be boycotting any startup that might be an acquisition target.

Huh, so if I avoid FB then I shouldn't use anything that they might acquire? Seems kind of tough, since they go out and buy things like Oculus, which was a bit out of left field.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#92
post #32
post #6

Amazon and Google -- and Facebook and a handful of others -- seem to be in a never-ending race to learn everything about everyone everywhere: who you are, where you are, what you do, when you do it, and why do do it. Having cameras and microphones in your house and your neighborhood is a small part of that.

And the panopticon grows... I'm not so concerned about Amazon or Google (though Facebook is creepy, even them). I'm worried about the access that nation-states security teams have distributed across the entire set of poorly secured, 0-day infested monitoring devices everywhere. 20 years ago I laughed at how infeasible Enemy of the State was, but now it seems feasible (with added drones). Even the "enhance/sharpen" pa…

Somewhere, someday, the 'mandatory' Alexa like device will bring us the "1984" era.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#93
Not an original thought but its fascinating how much extra information Amazon has in these acquisitions than a normal company. When such a big part of Ring's sales are through amazon they can figure out things like

* How many people search specifically for the brand Ring

* If a knockoff appears first do people buy that instead

* What is the growth in searches and purchases overall

* Why do people return the product

These are things even Ring wouldn't know. Its not too far fetched to think you could build a valuation engine off the information Amazon has and compare the cost of cloning the product line to acquiring the company automatically.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#94
post #60
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

might be...for now. And possibly (gasp) Microsoft!?

Windows 10 is not exactly a paragon of virtue when it comes to privacy concerns - https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/22/12582622/eff-microsoft-wi...

It's too bad they didn't adequately consider the privacy backlash in the first place, but at least Microsoft is taking some steps in the right direction.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/5/15188636/microsoft-windows... https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/24/16927056/microsoft-window...

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was just another example of this - A company called Plated, Cuban agreed to invest during the show then backed out during due diligence. I guess Mr. Wonderful found out and called them up to invest later. Plated just got sold to Albertsons for 300m, and O’Leary claims to have made 1300%+ return on his investment. Poor Mark. I love the show, I don’t think any of the sharks are “dumb money,” but I don’t think it’…

If you like Shark Tank, check out The Pitch podcast. It's very similar in concept, but in execution, I like it a lot better: - It's one pitch per episode, which allows a bit more depth - It's narrated, which let's the host cut in to explain nuances - They circle back to find out what happened after the pitch if the investments actually close - No gimmick companies - No Kevin O'Leary

Thanks for posting this. Very excited to check it out.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#96
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have the ability to unlock your front door, so "your paper towels were replaced on your holder" is a legit option.

When am I just going to have a person come to wipe my butt?

With 10000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, a butt wiping robot might be very successful.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#97

Ring was on the TV Show Shark Tank, and all the sharks passed on the deal. It was $700K for 10% of the company. And now it sold for more than 1 billion $.

There was just another example of this - A company called Plated, Cuban agreed to invest during the show then backed out during due diligence. I guess Mr. Wonderful found out and called them up to invest later. Plated just got sold to Albertsons for 300m, and O’Leary claims to have made 1300%+ return on his investment. Poor Mark. I love the show, I don’t think any of the sharks are “dumb money,” but I don’t think it’…

> I don’t think it’s an accurate representation of what a good investment for most businesses should look like

So, honestly, what do "good investments" look like then?

If anything I think the only problem with shark tank's portrayal of investments is it that it doesn't explain to the audience that it's wide viewership is the largest return for most of the founders on the show. Every founder who goes on the show knows this, but it's the "dirty little secret" that the audience isn't aware of.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#98

Ring was on the TV Show Shark Tank, and all the sharks passed on the deal. It was $700K for 10% of the company. And now it sold for more than 1 billion $.

There was just another example of this - A company called Plated, Cuban agreed to invest during the show then backed out during due diligence. I guess Mr. Wonderful found out and called them up to invest later. Plated just got sold to Albertsons for 300m, and O’Leary claims to have made 1300%+ return on his investment. Poor Mark. I love the show, I don’t think any of the sharks are “dumb money,” but I don’t think it’…

One thing that they don't show is that the pitches are substantially longer than what's presented on the show. Much of the drama and speed is down to editing.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#99
post #93

Not an original thought but its fascinating how much extra information Amazon has in these acquisitions than a normal company. When such a big part of Ring's sales are through amazon they can figure out things like * How many people search specifically for the brand Ring * If a knockoff appears first do people buy that instead * What is the growth in searches and purchases overall * Why do people return the product T…

Amazon gives loans to sellers; they have more info on their suppliers’ businesses than a bank could ever dream of.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#100
post #93

Not an original thought but its fascinating how much extra information Amazon has in these acquisitions than a normal company. When such a big part of Ring's sales are through amazon they can figure out things like * How many people search specifically for the brand Ring * If a knockoff appears first do people buy that instead * What is the growth in searches and purchases overall * Why do people return the product T…

I suppose you could go even further with it if they had things like hosting with AWS. With the product information you mentioned and any technical information they could pick up through AWS I'm sure they know exactly what to pay for something. Just gotta hope that an employee doesn't leak it one day.
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