Why Samsung’s Potential $200m Acquisition of SmartThings is a Win

Rumor has it that Samsung has ambitious plans to acquire the connected home appliances startup, SmartThings. According to TechCrunch, Samsung will purchase the Smart Home startup for $200 million with efforts to gain an edge over Google and its Nest acquisition in January. A spokesman for Samsung did not comment on the rumors.According to a recent report by Juniper Research, revenues generated from Smart Home services are set to reach a global market value of $71 billion by 2018, rising from $33 billion last year. Smart Home Ecosystems & the Internet of Things, found that nearly 80% of total Smart Home service revenues will come from entertainment services by the end of the forecast period. As connection speeds have increased, service providers are able to offer greater volumes of content, delivered with increasing convenience.Samsung has been working to develop its Smart Home ecosystem. The company aims to have home appliances connect and communicate through the internet, making it more convenient for consumers to have better control of devices. The purchase of SmartThings will be a success in which Samsung will gain more control of this area. It also will be able to bring in its developers to further develop the SmartThings programming ecosystem. By building apps which offer connected devices, the user will have a custom home experience.SmartThings and Samsung will benefit the company in faster production of its devices, improve areas of its developer programs, take leadership of standards and break into the IoT and Smart Home market. The refining of home devices is still a ways to go. Samsung will be faced along with other major brands entering this market with existing challenges. These challenges would have to be addressed before Smart Home devices are accepted worldwide.Could a small startup such as SmartThings deliver such leverage to big giants such as Samsung? We think so. So far, the developer community is on board. The deal would support SmartThings with faster production rates and investments to move forward with attracting developers to its platform. The solution is definitely attractive. Samsung already has an existing track record of connecting devices with the Smart Home. The fusion of the products together will offer an outstanding personalized solution for the user.