MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire SmartThings, a leading open platform for the smart home. Samsung said that, with its resources, SmartThings will be able to expand its platform and support even more 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, District of Columbia, to Palo Alto, California.
Founded in 2012, SmartThings enables homeowners to monitor, control, and automate their homes from wherever they are 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 and developers.
“SmartThings has created a remarkable universe of partners and developers and now has the most engagement of any smart home platform in the world,” said David Eun, head of the OIC. “Connected devices have long been strategically important to Samsung and, like Alex and his team, we want 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. We are committed to maintaining SmartThings’ open platform, fostering more explosive growth, and becoming its newest strategic partner.”
“As an open, standards-agnostic platform for the Internet of Things, our vision has always been to innovate, build, and make the world smarter, together,” said Hawkinson. “With Samsung behind us, we will be able to attract more device makers and developers to unlock the limitless possibilities of the consumer Internet of Things. We are thrilled to become part of the Samsung family and continue our goal in making every home a smart home.”
For more information about SmartThings, visit www.smartthings.com.
For more information about Samsung Electronics, visit www.samsung.com.
Publication date: 8/25/2014
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