Samsung Plots Home Automation With SmartThings Buy – Report

Samsung could be about to flesh out its intentions in the Internet of Things (IoT) market it is reported to be buying SmartThings, a smart-home startup.

The possible acquisition comes just days after Samsung joined the ‘Open Interconnect Consortium’, a group looking to drive the connectivity and interoperability of IoT-enabled devices.

Smart-Homes

At the moment, smart homes are shaping up as a battleground , with a number of big name tech vendors entering the market.

This includes Google, via its acquisition of intelligent home electronics developer Nest Labs earlier in the year. Apple likewise is exploring the smart-home market having announced its HomeKit protocol in June.

Microsoft meanwhile has been involved in the sector ever since Bill Gates built his ‘smart mansion’ in Washington-state many years ago. Bill Gates designed his house so that guests wear pins, and the house automatically adjusts temperature, music, and lighting based on their preferences when they enter a room. More recently, Redmond signed a partnership deal with home automation specialist Insteon.

Techcrunch has reported that Samsung is in talks with SmartThings over a possible $200m (£117m) acquisition.

If that report is true, that would be a pretty good return for investors as SmartThings initially raised $1.2m (£700m) on Kickstarter in 2012. It followed that with another $12.5m (£7.3m) from venture capitalists including Greylock Partners, First Round Capital and Highland Capital Partners.

Connected Appliances

SmartThings has proven to be popular with smart-home developers. Its smartphone app runs on iOS and Android, and allows a user to remotely monitor, control and customise their heating systems, lights, and even door locks, via the SmartThings hub.

The acquisition of SmartThings could also give Samsung a valuable entry into the smart-home market. Of course, the South Korean electronics giant is already a very large player in the home-appliance market, making everything from fridges, washing machines, to dishwashers.

Samsung also makes smart televisions that are web connected portals, allowing the user to surf the web or even make a Skype call.

It should be remembered also that Samsung has a heavy-weight marketing budget, which coupled with its home appliance presence, could result in it rapidly becoming a serious player in the emerging IoT sector.

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