Samsung, today purchased the smart home hub, SmartThings that allows users to program their homes, reportedly for $200 million.
According to Alex Hawkinson, SmartThings CEO, the company will remain an independent operating company within Samsung’s Open Innovation Center. They will retain a separate brand, operations as well as a platform.
That unit, which is run by former Google and AOL exec David Eun, is focused on software and services innovation. As an example, the accelerator recently helped launch an app called Terrain, which “offers users a list of cards that provide shortcuts to information, content, social network feeds, frequently accessed information and settings on the device.”
It makes SmartThings a better contender against Google and Apple that also are focusing on the internet of things.
