Samsung bought SmartThings for $200m, as the electronics giant looks to expand into the growing smart home and internet of things arena.
The company, which got off the ground via crowdfunding site Kickstarter, made the announcmene t in a blog post yesterday.
The firm said that it would continue to run as it always has, with the same team as an independent company, although it will relocate to a new HQ in Palo Alto. The firm will now operate from within within Samsung’s Open Innovation Centre group.
The blog post stated: “We believe that there is an enormous opportunity to leverage Samsung’s global scale to help us realise our long-term vision. While we will remain operationally independent, joining forces with Samsung will enable us to support all of the leading smartphone vendors, devices, and applications; expand our base of developers and enhance the tools and programs that they rely on; and help many more people around the world easily control and monitor their homes using SmartThings.”
The move comes as Samsung also underlined that it’s targeting the smart home and also office yesterday, with an announcement that a big part of the firm’s IFA revelations will be the Smart Office platform, with a number of solutions to allow for a slicker and more connected office environment.
After mobiles, the internet of things looks set to become the next big battleground in the digital secgtor, with Google buying Nest and Dropcam while Apple is developing its HomeKit system which was announced at this year’s WWDC in June.
Watch this video, courtesy of Engadget, looking into the kind of products that SmartThings is creating for the home.