Roku’s newest venture goes beyond your TV screen: The hardware company just announced Roku Smart Home, a new lineup of devices including security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights, and voice-enabled smart plugs. The company also launched a Roku Smart Home mobile app and a security camera subscription service.
Roku building out its home technologies is significant for the company as rivals Google and Amazon have dominated the competitive connected home space for years.
The move makes sense for the company and is a pretty obvious one, given that Roku is looking for ways to increase its sources of income. The company missed Wall Street’s expectations last quarter when it reported total net revenue of $764 million.
Roku’s new smart home devices include floodlight cameras, indoor/outdoor cameras, 360° indoor cameras, video doorbells, smart light bulbs, light strips and both indoor and outdoor plugs. A Roku spokesperson told TechCrunch that “this is just the first step for Roku Smart Home,” and indicated more smart home products will launch in the future.
“As the #1 selling smart TV [operating system] in the U.S., the Roku platform is used by tens of millions of households, and now we’re extending our ecosystem to include devices and services to power the modern smart home,” said Mustafa Ozgen, President, Devices, Roku, in a statement. “Branching further into the smart home category is a natural extension of our business, and we are proud to partner with Walmart to make the experience simple and affordable.”
A select number of the new products are available to purchase today on Roku.com and Walmart.com. Plus, as part of its partnership with Walmart, consumers will also be able to buy the devices in retail at 3,500 Walmart stores starting Monday, October 17. The two companies partnered up in June to allow consumers to purchase items while streaming on Roku devices.
Roku’s new security cameras consist of indoor and outdoor cameras, a 360° camera for indoors, a video doorbell and a floodlight camera. Each device comes with HD video quality (1080p), person detection, motion and sound detection, night vision, two-way audio, cloud storage, as well as instant notifications and a loud siren.
What’s more, all Roku’s smart home products are compatible with Roku’s voice assistant, Roku Voice, as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
The Roku voice remote can be used to bring up video feeds on Roku TVs and Roku streaming players.
Roku’s wired indoor camera and outdoor camera are, for the most part, the same in design, however, the outdoor camera comes with a 12.5 ft power adaptor. They both have a horizontal field vision of 130°. The devices range from $27 to $50, which are more affordable options than the $100 Google Nest wired camera.
There’s also the battery-operated outdoor camera with 110° view and 6 month battery life for $74.
The Indoor Camera 360° is $40 and tracks motion by panning and tilting the camera.
Amazon’s similar indoor plug-in camera, the Blink Mini, is $35, and will soon get a Blink Mini Pan Tilt mount for $30.
The Video Doorbell & Chime costs $80 – $100 and is waterproof, wireless, and includes a rechargeable battery, head-to-toe view and package detection. Roku’s device competes on price with Ring’s Video Doorbell Wireless with Chime, which is $100.
Roku’s wired floodlight camera is priced at $100, has a brightness of 2600 lumens, and features motion-activated lights and a waterproof design. With the floodlight camera, users can see a 270° area up to 30 ft away.
In September, Amazon introduced a Blink wired floodlight camera for $100, which will be available to U.S. customers in the coming months. Ring also sells a wired floodlight cam for $200. Google has a Nest Cam floodlight for $280.
Similar to Amazon’s Ring Protect plan, Roku offers a security camera subscription, which costs $2.99 per camera per month. There’s also a free 14-day trial.
Ring’s cheapest security camera subscription plan increased to $3.99 per month in June. Google’s security camera subscription plan, Nest Aware, is more on the pricier side, starting at $6 a month, however, it includes 30 days of video history.
Roku’s camera subscription retains video clips for 14 days.
Users can also download the new Roku Smart Home mobile app to control devices, get cloud video recording history, turn on smart alerts, get package delivery notifications, and more.
The new smart light bulbs are available in white and color and range from $6.88 to $24. With a brightness of 800 lumens, Roku’s smart bulbs can be customized within the Roku Smart Home app, such as a dimming feature, time schedules, and more.
Roku’s smart light strips cost $23 to $45, feature lighting effects, and can be synced with music, making it a great device for parties. Users can set a timer for the lights as well.
Electronic devices can be controlled throughout the home with Roku’s voice-enabled smart plugs, which cost $8.88-$15.
Roku dives into smart home market with security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights, and more by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
