Samsung Electronics announces the acquisition of SmartThings, the
leading open platform for the smart home and the consumer Internet of Things.
Supporting an open and growing ecosystem of developers, who are
producing new types of connected devices and unique apps in the cloud that
change how everyday objects work, SmartThings, backed by Samsung’s resources
and support, will now be able to expand its platform and become available for
even more partners and devices.
The company will continue to operate independently under founder and CEO
Alex Hawkinson, and will become part of the Samsung Open Innovation Center
(OIC), which is responsible for bringing software and services innovation to
Samsung Electronics. SmartThings will move its headquarters from Washington DC
to Palo Alto, California.
SmartThings gives people power to monitor, control and automate their
homes from any location through a single mobile app. SmartThings’ open platform
supports more than 1,000 devices and 8,000 apps created by its community of
device makers, inventors, and developers.
David Eun, Head of the OIC comments that SmartThings has created a remarkable
universe of partners and developers and now has the most engagement of any
smart home platform in the world. Underlining the importance of connected
devices for Samsung, he said the company aims to improve the convenience and
services in people’s lives by giving their devices and appliances a voice so
they can interact more easily with them.
According to SmartThings’ Alex Hawkinson, as an open, standards-agnostic
platform for the Internet of Things, their vision has always been to innovate,
build, and make the world smarter, together. With Samsung’s support,
SmartThings hopes to attract more device makers and developers to unlock the
limitless possibilities of the consumer Internet of Things.