Blink is a company that offers smart Home Security Systems; Blink makes and sells such systems. Some of the products that they offer are indoor and outdoor cameras, doorbell cameras, and home monitoring systems. Blink’s cameras are wireless, cost-effective, and simple to install.
In a new development, Blink has been bought by Amazon in 2017. It also made it easier for Blink to expand their business using some of the resources that were provided by Amazon. Nevertheless, there is still some ambiguity concerning the lines of Blink’s organization’s functioning – whether Blink is completely distinct from Amazon or is, in fact, its division. The concern of this article will be a deeper analysis of Blink’s association with Amazon.
Blink's Humble Beginnings Blink was created in 2014 by Peter Besen and Michael Harris. Their objective was to design a simple and wholly wireless home security camera system. It is imperative to note that, in the past, most home security cameras needed to be connected to a power source and a network physically. The Blink cameras include batteries and are wireless which makes it very easy for customers to place them anywhere inside or outside their homes.
Blink decided to crowdfund the development of their first product through Kickstarter. The campaign was very successful and Blink received more than $1 million from people interested in being a part of Blink’s plan. From this funding, Blink ultimately settled on the design for their first-generation device.
Acquisition by Amazon Blink was acquired by the retail giant Amazon in 2017 as it began to look for a home security and smart home market play. Although the details of the acquisition were not made public the investors of Blink considered it as a great success for the young company.
Blink had only been selling the products for approximately 9 months at the time of the acquisition. However, during the same period, Blink was a relatively young organization and suffered from low brand awareness and distribution capacity. Amazon offered Blink its many selling channels, logistics, and financial strength to help Blink grow much more quickly.
Relationship with Amazon, However, Blink remains an individual branch of a company since it is owned by Amazon. Blink also has its product development division, manufacturing division, and market products under the company’s name. The leadership of the Blink company also stays the same throughout the story.
Blink’s physical infrastructure and operations are still independent of Amazon too. Blink is situated in Carlsbad, California while Amazon is situated in Seattle, Washington.
Blink can now incorporate the use of the numerous resources that Amazon provides, which a small venture would not be able to afford. This includes Amazon's supply chain and distribution which is involved in making Blink products available in large stock. It also probably involves delivering or storing some components of Blink’s videos through Amazon Web Services.
Amazon also directly sells Blink products through Amazon. Com and incorporates Blink into some of their other smart home gadgets. Blink cameras can be integrated with Amazon’s Alexa to control the devices through the voice. Moreover, video from Blink cameras can be accessed via Amazon’s line of Fire TV gadgets.
However, when Blink became a subsidiary of Amazon, it had its own stock and inventory control system independent from Amazon’s. And Blink does not work hand in hand with Amazon devices teams, since the company designs and engineers its products. Blink very much remains business as usual Blink rather than being swallowed by Amazon.
Why Amazon Bought Blink This purchase allowed Amazon to gain a market presence and effectively challenge other companies in the home security camera market using Blink. Creating a completely new product from scratch which is also a brand in the market could have been a time-consuming process for Amazon which might have required years of research and development money.
The acquisition of Blink was strategic for Amazon as it allowed the company to begin selling home security cameras in months under a name that had some established equity. It also handed Amazon a successful wire-free product line, instead of which it has to build the capabilities itself.
Blink also provided Amazon with an instant line of smart home products to integrate into the Echo and Alexa home devices. Blink cameras present another opportunity for consumers to make use of Alexa's voice controls in their homes. This way, the ability to view camera feeds on Fire TV contributes to the usage of those products.
Companies such as Blink that are owned by Amazon provide the giant retailer with a means by which it can expand into the connected home technology market in every aspect. Also, the existing structure of Amazon’s retail allows for the direct sales of vast quantities of Blink systems to the target market. Thus, the acquisition was mutually beneficial for both the buyer and the seller.
The Future of Blink and Amazon: To date, four years after Amazon’s acquisition, Blink remains an individual branch that designs and sells its products. The lights are on for Blink to continue to manage their company independently with support from Amazon in the background.
Instead of restraining them, Amazon appears determined to fund Blink’s expansion. Blink has significantly diversified its products since its acquisition by Amazon. And their distribution and sales channels have significantly expanded through Amazon networks.
The home security camera market remains one of the most rapidly growing segments as well. Thus, Amazon will most probably let Blink continue and even expand rapidly under the extremely popular Blink name. If it were any Amazon-branded home cameras, they appear to be far in the future, if at all.
It can be said that Blink is one of the most successful Amazon acquisitions within the sphere of smart homes. The business relationship appears to be set to keep enabling Blink to record high growth as Amazon gains a powerful brand in home security. Although a subsidiary company of Amazon, Blink is most likely going to continue its independent business model as it cruises into the future utilizing the benefits of the two.
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