With its Alexa devices, Amazon is currently one of the leading suppliers of smart home equipment. In order to further expand its position in this area, the Group has now acquired the start-up company Eero, which offers WLAN routers and repeaters with mesh functions. In the future, Amazon will in all probability add its own routers to its Alexa product portfolio. The purchase price for the company was not disclosed.
According to Nick Weaver, Eero co-founder and CEO, the Eero brand will remain independent despite the acquisition. Amazon merely stated that the group wanted to make it easier to connect networked appliances to the household by taking over the company, but concrete plans or products had not yet been announced.
Critical voices fear that Amazon could gain even more personal data about its users through the takeover if the company also evaluates WLAN usage. However, Eero itself stated that both Startup and Amazon do not want to interfere with the privacy of users and do not collect any data about their usage behavior.
Last year Amazon bought Ring and Blink, which offer smart surveillance cameras, to expand its smart home division.
