Google’s purchase of Dropcam for $555 million is the latest development in the burgeoning home automation market battle between Apple, Google and Silicon Valley. The fight for dominance in home automation is heating up and the winners are us. What was once only accessible for the very wealthy, is now becoming available for the average homeowner. Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon and Apple Stores are leading the way in offering “smart”, connected products that will change the way we use and control our homes.

Dropcam has distinguished itself in the surveillance camera market by being simple to setup, wireless, high-definition, two-way audio, inexpensive at $149-199 and, here’s the best part…records in the cloud. No longer do we need an expensive DVR (digital video recorder). iHummingbird is proud to be both Nest and Dropcam dealers early in the development of both products.

So what does this men for you? The Silicon giants are determined to make the home the next big battle ground in the technology revolution. The “smart” phones and tablets have reached market saturation and can’t be expected to continue to return the same levels of growth seen over the past 6 years. Home and healthcare are the new frontiers. Prices will come down, a wide variety of products will become available and we will be the better for it.

NY Times article

WSJ article