Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

geekwire.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 135 posts

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#111

Post by oh_sigh »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #78
sharkweek wrote: post #18

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

Kevin O'Leary is great. If you are on the benefitting side of what people call 'the worst deal of all time', you must be a pretty good businessman[1]. And I bet The Pitch host isn't a member of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.

[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4467013/Mattel-sale-ends...

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#112

Post by prostoalex »

willow9886 wrote: post #22
cs702 wrote: 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.

Don't forget they're also monitoring people who interact with you (a.k.a. the user of services). When I walk into a friends home who has an Alexa, or a Ring system, it is now tracking me too. The purchaser consented, but I never consented to being monitored in a residence/dwelling where I would otherwise have the reasonable expectation of privacy! There was a good Gizmodo article about this called The House That Spie…

Do you have expectations of privacy on someone else’s private property? Seems fair to assume surveillance in retail establishments or banks. The only exception I can think of is rented private property (hotel rooms, airbnb’s).

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#113

Post by prostoalex »

Osmium wrote: post #29

Perhaps a stupid question, but where does the $1bn. valuation come from? Amazon already make hardware, including cloud cameras, would it have been so hard for them to make a doorbell in-house?

Ring has some existing cash flow through their video monitoring business.

There’s also some premium to be had for tight integration options - current Ring doorbell owners would likely opt for a Ring indoor camera (if one existed) versus competitor’s, just to avoid the hassle of dealing with two apps and paying for two subscription plans.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#114

Post by prostoalex »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #8

I'm surprised this isn't at the top of the frontpage. This is big vindication of all hardware startups. Will VCs go big in this category after this series of exits?

They push their monitoring plans pretty hard right after the user is done with the installation https://shop.ring.com/pages/protect-plans so it’s possible they’re more of a monitoring-service-by-subscription business than hardware business at this point.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#116

Post by Waterluvian »

cavisne wrote: 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…

Is it legal to manipulate the market to test signals?

Eg. We may want to buy this company. Let's make their product appear after competitors and see how strong sales remain.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#118

Post by test6554 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #116
cavisne wrote: 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…

Is it legal to manipulate the market to test signals? Eg. We may want to buy this company. Let's make their product appear after competitors and see how strong sales remain.

Yes, as long as they only do it on Amazon.com. It's their website after all.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#119

Post by burnte »

willow9886 wrote: post #22
cs702 wrote: 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.

Don't forget they're also monitoring people who interact with you (a.k.a. the user of services). When I walk into a friends home who has an Alexa, or a Ring system, it is now tracking me too. The purchaser consented, but I never consented to being monitored in a residence/dwelling where I would otherwise have the reasonable expectation of privacy! There was a good Gizmodo article about this called The House That Spie…

You do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy when in someone else's private property. That's also why you can be videoed by security cameras in stores, hotels, casinos, etc.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#120

Post by cthalupa »

freeone3000 wrote: post #80
ehsankia wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really not see the value of a live feed of who's at your door and a clear 2 way audio feed? The current existing solution either have really poor quality, are complicated to install (require technician), and don't integrate with your smartphone. I'm not talking about the Ring specifically, there are other competitors too such as Nest Hello, but the idea seems pretty straight-forward and valuable to anyone with…

How is it valuable, exactly? What's the gain?

1) Theft deterrent. Not getting your house broken into is more about not being the most attractive target than anything else. Video cameras, motion detector lights, no bushes blocking vision to windows, etc, all make an impact.

2) Seeing who is at the door without potentially having let them know that you're there. In my house, there are glass windows to both sides of the door. I cannot go look through the peep hole without them know I am there. I purchased one after I had several days of a person (people?) ringing my doorbell in between 3 AM and 5 AM, then driving around the neighborhood slowly in their car. I certainly wasn't going to go answer it or announce my presence in case something sketchy was going on.

3) Communicating with someone at the door if you need to. I sleep late on weekends - sometimes I need to sign for a package. With the ring, I can let them know that I'm there and just need to throw on some clothes, rather than them leaving. Or if I'm in the restroom.

4) I want to keep an eye on the front porch while I'm gone, and get alerts on motion detection. I can catch some neighborhood kids being stupid, or something stealing a package, etc etc.

5) If they're leaving a package that isn't signature required, and I'm not home, I can ask them to put it behind the bushes, etc.

Post reply on HN