Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#121

Post by paxys » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:10 AM UTC

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.

Manipulating search results for any reason is illegal and Google has faced heavy scrutiny for it in the past, so I would think it would be the same for Amazon.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#122

Post by jhurliman » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:43 AM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #110

dmourati wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ring does host its video on AWS S3.

Oddly specific. Does Ring use AWS at all?

Yes, Ring hosts user videos on S3 as stated above.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#123

Post by dingaling » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:52 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #121

Waterluvian wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Manipulating search results for any reason is illegal and Google has faced heavy scrutiny for it in the past, so I would think it would be the same for Amazon.

Illegal? There may be scrutiny in a monopoly context, but there is no law that states that search results have to be fair and equitable.

How could they even be? For example Amazon might only stock four of six brands of video doorbell, so they're not going to be able to return neutral results.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#124

Post by LeoPanthera » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:51 AM UTC

Slansitartop wrote: post #21

Crap. I guess I won't be buying one then. Amazon also just gobbled up the maker of my home security cameras (Blink). I really would prefer my home monitoring devices to be separate from the giant tech companies that I'm trusting less and less.

I'm using UniFi Video cameras. The server is in my house. No cloud necessary.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#125

Post by coss » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 9:06 AM UTC

I wonder if this is for their in home delivery. Have ring devices recognize valid amazon delivery employees and let them in to drop off packages/food. VIP service - stock your fridge.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#126

Post by evgen » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 9:44 AM UTC

prostoalex wrote: post #113

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.

Given that Amazon just bought Blink a few months ago you can see the shape of the Amazon smart home ecosystem coming together...

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#127

Post by letsgetphysITal » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 9:52 AM UTC

SmellTheGlove wrote: post #13

Amazon now has Blink and Ring. I wonder how soon "You're out of paper towels" and "Your paper towels are on the porch" will come about? Bonus points for "the neighbor kid just stole your package" alert.

They also have the Dash buttons. The whole process is literally pressing the button next to where the TP is kept, going out to work, and coming back to find twelve rolls of your brand sat in your hallway.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#128

Post by elvirs » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 11:29 AM UTC

the word 'privacy implications' gets thrown around here so much and I'm wondering what exactly can amazon do with a video of mailman walking up to your doorstep that could violate your privacy?

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#129

Post by tedmiston » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

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…

Not to mention Amazon was an investor through the Alexa fund as well.

Re: Amazon to acquire video doorbell maker Ring

#130

Post by prostoalex » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

evgen wrote: post #126

prostoalex wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Given that Amazon just bought Blink a few months ago you can see the shape of the Amazon smart home ecosystem coming together...

The Blink acquisition is less obvious to me, considering Amazon already had a branded Dropcam competitor at pretty competitive price https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Amazon-Cloud-Cam/dp/B01C4...