Google has bought Dropcam, kind of, sort of, technically. Man, I told myself I wouldn’t do any link baiting, so here’s the real story. Nest has agreed to purchase Dropcam for $555 million in cash. As we know, Google bought Nest earlier this year, but this buyout is basically self contained within Nest which despite Google being its lone shareholder is still largely run as its own company. Once the buyout is complete, Dropcam will be become part of the Nest ecosystem. Customers will continue to use the current Dropcam infrastructure for the immediate future. Nest made a point in their announcement that Google will not have access to Nest or Dropcam data. They also made the point that both business models are self sustaining and neither Nest nor Dropcam products will be subject to Google’s advertising network.
As you all know, Geek Beat has made extensive use of Dropcam IP cameras in our previous offices, and now in the Geek House. It’ll be interesting to see how this buyout plays out for users, including ourselves. We want to know what you think about this. Leave us a comment and let us know.
