Dropcam is probably the most popular home monitoring start-up, and now the company is owned by Google. Dropcam was acquired recently by Nest for a cool $555 million, the same company Google acquired for $3.2 billion just four months ago.
According to the company, it is undertaking this acquisition on its own without Google's oversight. Furthermore, we understand that Dropcam will be folded into the Nest brand after everything is completed, and employees of the company will have to adopt the culture at Nest.
In addition, the same company privacy policy that applies to Nest will now apply to Dropcam.
Dropcam is an interesting home monitoring service. The company sold reliable home monitoring security cameras, which allows customers to keep track of everything that goes on in their home, even if they are thousands of miles away. Dropcam also offers a subscription based cloud service where recorded data would be stored in the cloud on Dropcam servers.
Nest's Head of Engineering, Matt Rogers, described in a blog post how both companies will integrate and work together in the coming years.
"Eventually, the plan is for us to work together to reinvent products that will help shape the future of the conscious home and bring our shared vision to more and more people around the world. For now though, not much will change. Dropcam products will still be sold online and in stores. And Dropcam customers will still continue to use their Dropcam accounts," according to Rogers.
Apparently, Nest had spent a lot of time looking at camera companies all around the world, only to choose Dropcam to be the lucky start-up.
Since many folks already own Dropcams, Nest will attempt to leverage this by pushing its smart thermostat to these consumers, along with its other devices.
The most important aspect of this acquisition that Google is now a home automation company. The idea of the search giant playing a big part in home automation might run some people the wrong way. Several individuals fear Google might want to collect data from within their homes to show them advertisements, while others might believe the company is working hand-in-hand with the NSA.
The big G now has another uphill battle to climb.
