Samsung is gearing up to compete with Google Nest and Insteon after the company acquired smart home start-up company SmartThings for a reported $200 million. This acquisition could turn out to be Samsung's most important yet, if the smart home idea truly takes off in the coming years.
SmartThings is a company that makes smartphone-operated devices for use in the home. Its products mainly compete with the likes of Nest and Insteon, though the US-based company is not well known.
With Samsung now at the helm of SmartThings, the company now has the legs to compete more effectively with others in the smart home space. Chances are; future products from SmartThings might only support Samsung devices since the company has shown little interest in supporting competing products.
For example, the company's Galaxy Gear smart watches can only connect to Samsung made smartphones.
Still, CEO of SmartThings, Alex Hawkinson said that despite Samsung now being the new owner, nothing will change in how the company operates. We hope this is true, as it would mean that products from SmartThings will continue to support other platforms and branded smartphones.
"We will continue to run SmartThings the way we always have: by embracing our community of customers, developers, and device makers and championing the creation of the leading open platform for the smart home," said Hawkinson. "Our growing team will remain fully intact and will relocate to a new headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. In short: SmartThings will remain SmartThings."
What's behind the reason for Samsung's $200 million purchase of SmartThings?
There are several big battlegrounds in the tech industry today, and the smart home is one of them. Google made the first big step when it acquired Nest, then Microsoft after it partnered with Insteon. Samsung must have realized what is going on, and chose to acquire SmartThings so that it wouldn't be left behind in what could turn out to be a successful and profitable market in the years to come.
Furthermore, the Samsung is facing issues in the smartphone market as cheaper competition from China rises to the occasion. As it stands right now, analysts expect Samsung to lose 35 percent of its market share in 2015.
