The archive · Hardware & Devices · Strategic decision · 2017
Blink's no-wiring, no-subscription camera bet ends in an Amazon acquisition
Battery-powered ~$99 cameras with free cloud clips made Blink a standout; Amazon acquired it in Dec 2017 and cut SmartThings support as a deal condition.
Blink
What the business is
Blink sells battery-powered, wire-free home-security cameras that record motion clips to the cloud with no monthly storage fee, plus a video doorbell — pitched against wired systems and subscription cameras.
How it started
Blink was already an established consumer brand by late 2017: owners in the Hacker News thread described months of use on multi-camera systems that needed no wires, mentioned a doorbell product in the lineup, and said Amazon reviews of the cameras were mostly favorable. Its position rested on a product bet — cheap battery-powered cameras with no monthly storage contract — aimed at buyers who wanted home security without an electrician or a subscription.
What happened
On 2017-12-22 Blink announced the sale on its blog, and the story reached Hacker News with 187 points and 86 comments. Commenters immediately reported the deal's visible cost: SmartThings support had been discontinued as a condition of the acquisition — the RBoy integration was already disabled, prompting what one user called 'a huge uproar' on the SmartThings forum. Industry analyst IPVM published an assessment of the deal, and commenters debated whether Amazon wanted Blink's cameras for Alexa, delivery logistics or a broader home-surveillance stack.
How it ended up
Amazon acquired Blink, as announced on 2017-12-22. The founders took the acquisition cash, and existing users lost SmartThings compatibility at once as a condition of the deal; the thread records no price and no plan for the product line under Amazon.
Background
Blink was acquired by Amazon, the company announced on 2017-12-22, in a deal that reached the top of Hacker News with 187 points and 86 comments. The thread's first reaction was about what the sale cost users: Blink's SmartThings integration had been discontinued as a condition of the deal, and owners said the change was already live.
What Amazon bought was a consumer home-security brand built on an unusual product bet. Blink cameras were battery-powered and wire-free — no electrician, no wiring — and recorded short motion clips to the cloud without a monthly storage fee, at roughly $99 per camera. Owners in the thread described setting up five cameras in about an hour, noted a doorbell product in the lineup, and said Amazon reviews of the cameras were mostly favorable.
Commenters read the acquisition as Amazon assembling a home stack: cameras plus Alexa, Key in-home delivery and its own delivery network. Industry analyst IPVM published an assessment of the deal, while skeptical users — many already unhappy about losing SmartThings — said they would move to self-hosted systems rather than trust another cloud vendor with cameras inside their homes.
What has to be true
- Blink attacked the two pain points of home cameras — wiring and recurring fees — with ~$99 battery devices, and buyers responded: owners called it neat and Amazon reviews were mostly favorable.
- The no-subscription design was distinctive in a 2017 market of cloud-service cameras, giving a small hardware maker a recognizable consumer position that a giant could put to use.
- The thread never states a price, but commenters saw strategic logic: cameras fed Amazon's Alexa, Key and delivery ambitions around the home.
- Ecosystem trust was the fragile asset: SmartThings support ended as a deal condition, and the loudest users in the thread said the sale was exactly why they would leave cloud cameras entirely.
What can be applied
A product that removes the two things buyers hate — wiring and monthly fees — can earn enough pull to be acquired; the catch is that the acquirer can instantly cut integrations users depended on.
Aftermath
As of 2017-12-22 the acquisition had just been announced on Blink's own blog, with no price or integration plan stated. The most concrete consequence visible in the thread was the immediate end of SmartThings support, which had been a deal condition: owners of the RBoy integration found it already disabled, and several said they would move to self-hosted setups such as Home Assistant rather than trust another cloud vendor. Whether Amazon would keep Blink cameras as a standalone product or fold them into its Echo/Alexa hardware strategy remained open speculation in the thread.
Sources
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