Dropcam purchased by Nest for US$555 million – DIY Home Security via Nest’s Dropcam just got Googled by Google Android @Home

Nest and by extension Google, harbor ambitions of going into the Home and Personal Security business it would seem.

This as Nest, Google’s most recent acquisition, has purchased Dropcam for US$555 million as reported in “Google's Nest Labs acquires Dropcam for $555M”, published June 20, 2014 5:28 PM PDT by Nick Statt, CNET News and “Google’s Nest Buys Dropcam for $555 Million”, published June 20, 2014, 5:00 PM PDT By Liz Gannes, Recode.

Acquired by Google in January 2014 for approximately US$3.2 billion as I’d reported in my blog article entitled “Google purchased Nest for US$3.2 billion - The Internet of Things just got Googled as Android tries to rule them all”, they’ve been allowed to make decisions autonomously for the most part. This decision to purchase Dropcam is an indication that Google may be, without their formal consent, be dragged into the DIY side of Home and Personal Security.

In effect, Google, which gave no clear indication that it was heading into the home automation space, may find that indirectly, Google Android may end up being a platform for Nest-owned Dropcam.

Dropcam purchase by Nest – DIY Home Security just got Googled

Dropcam is the brainchild of Engineers Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani, who in 2009, defected from Swedish firm AXIS and designed their own line of Wi-Fi, enabled Cameras. They've thus far raised some US$47.8 million in venture capital fund and were on an expansion run when Nest acquired them.

Nest's ambitions, interestingly, align perfectly with Google's plans to invade the Home Automation market which Apple has already shown an interest in going into as stated in “Here’s what's new at Google I/O 2014”, published June 25, 2014 2:04 PM PDT by Nate Ralph, CNET News and “Everything You Need to Know About Google’s I/O Keynote”, published 06.25.14 12:20 pm By Mat Honan, Wired.

Dropcam's Wi-Fi connected products offer a level of personal protection which is equivalent to any CCTV Camera System that allows Remote Viewing. The difference here is just like the Nest Protect Smoke Alarm as described in my blog article entitled “Nest markets a Wi-Fi connected Smoke Detector, the Nest Protect, for US$129 - Nest stirs up the Smoke Detector Business in yet another smartphone connected device”, it appeals to the DIY (Do It Yourself) segment of the Home and Personal Security.

Their range of products is basically a DIY Security Kits that's totally Wireless, communicating over Wi-Fi:

1.      $149 Dropcam

2.      $199 Dropcam Pro

3.      $29 Dropcam Tab

All three products can be installed by the customer themselves, with the Dropcam Tab being a Wireless sensor that you can place at windows and doors to detect when these parts of the house are accessed. Most likely too, the Kit may have a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), albeit now that Google has purchased them that may soon be replaced with a Cloud Storage option, with Video, Audio and other activity detected at your home being backed up in the Cloud.

Its main claim to fame is really Remote Viewing along with Remote Sensing using built in Motion Detectors, something that's also de riguer for most CCTV Camera systems. Its Dropcam Pro Cameras also have built in Microphones and also Speakers, allowing the viewer to make their presence felt, especially to unruly children or even the family Dog before he decides to damage your furniture – again.

DIY Cameras with Google Home – Google Android @Home via Nest’s Dropcam

Where it becomes competitive is in the fact that this is a Wireless IPTV Camera System that imposes no limits on how many Cameras you can add to your system. So just like a traditional CCTV Camera System, you can have:

1.      4 Channel System

2.      8 Channel System

3.      16 Channel System

Note here the term ‘Channel’ refers to each link, be it Wired or Wireless being connected to a single Camera. Being as it’s a DIY Kit like the Nest Protect Smoke Alarm, it's priced competitively cheaper than paying hundreds or thousands of US$ to get a licensed CCTV Camera Installation company to install a Camera System plus provide monitoring of your home and Armed Response in case your home gets robbed.

With Dropcam, you're basically going it alone, Commando Style, by monitoring your home with this Wireless DIY Camera, Motion Detector and Window/Door open Sensor Kit. If something happens at your home, you now have a record of the events backed up on your DVR which the Kit came with as well as on Google's Cloud Drive, which most likely would be more than a 1TB of Cloud Space.

This most likely would be an expensive add-on that you'd have to pay for when you bought the Dropcam. And at that point Google’s Android would start to creep into your home, pun unintended. Currently, users of Dropcam can monitor their homes on any smartphone, be it Apple iPhone or a smartphone running Google Android.

With Google now going into Home Entertainment, based on the latest coming out of their three (3) day Google I/O Conference held on Wednesday 25^th June 2014 to Friday 27^th June 2014 as stated in “MISSED GOOGLE I/O? HERE ARE 5 BIG THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW”, published June 29, 2014 By Joshua Sherman, DigitalTrends, a push into Home Automation wouldn’t seem unlikely.

After all, Google has harboured this ambition as far back as Google I/O 2011, when they’d demoed their idea of Google @Home integration into Home Appliances, Entertainment and Automobiles to begin in 2015 as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple’s Revolution: Android @ Home and IceCream Sandwich in 2015AD”.

With 2015 now around the corner, Google seems to be on track with this prediction. Already they have self-driving Cars, also slated to debut in 2015 as stated in my blog article entitled “Google 100 strong Fully Autonomous All-Electric Vehicles launched – 25 mph Limit on AI Chauffeur in 2015 with Black Boxes makes Crashes like aeroplanes”.

Soon, we’ll have Automated Homes, with Dropcam keeping track of our every move and intelligent AI making decisions based on a Cloud Based Android powered System. Please stop me when this begins to start sound like what happened on Superman’s home Planet Krypton with Brainiac, the AI that basically ran the Planet.

Will this be the long term fate of the US of A? More on this as Google’s Ambition to Rule the World expands.