What's going on?

What business isn�t Amazon trying to get into? Its latest target: doorbells. News broke late on Tuesday that Amazon had acquired Ring, a home security startup, for a cool $1 billion or so.

What does this mean?

Amazon�s AI-focused venture capital fund invested in Ring a few years back, and there�s already a fair bit of compatibility between Amazon�s home assistant Alexa and Ring�s front door cameras. The move follows Amazon�s acquisition of Blink in December, another smart camera monitoring company.


The thinking appears to be that Ring�s security devices could synchronize well with Amazon Key, a new security system that lets couriers safely place Amazon�s packages inside a home. It�s also a longer-term play for home security as the Internet of Things develops (think: Alexa running your household, including its security).

Why should I care?

For markets: Worried investors sent down shares in home security firm ADT by more than 5% on Wednesday.

More than half of American households subscribe to Amazon�s Prime service, and it markets many of its new services (cloud storage and video streaming, for example) directly to them. It stands to reason that, as Prime customers increasingly let Amazon into their homes (literally) via services like Amazon Key, they might be more open to using Amazon for all of their security needs.

The bigger picture: Mastering the security game could be a crucial play for Amazon (tweet this).

While it�s got a lot of psychological barriers to overcome, Amazon could have a load more services to offer customers if it�s able to win their trust. It might, for example, be able to market dog-walking or cleaning services if it can bring a majority of consumers around to the idea of having Amazon-approved individuals opening their locked doors. And that�s even before your home becomes a �smart home�, where most of your appliances are connected to wifi. Thanks to acquisitions like Ring, Amazon might just become the gatekeeper to your whole commodified life.