Wi-Fi company eero has officially been acquired by Amazon for an undisclosed amount. For the time being, the acquisition will not result in any apparent changes, and eero’s current team would remain intact. In fact, eero would run as an independent company within Amazon. In a blog post penned by eero’s Co-Founder & CEO, Nick Weaver, the company says that it will now have more resources and opportunities to improve its existing products.
When reports relating to the takeover first emerged, concerns were raised regarding how it would impact the privacy of eero. However, eero has upheld its commitment to privacy. Dave Limp, Amazon SVP of devices and services, has provided further reassurance by saying that eero’s privacy policy isn’t being changed at all.
The Wi-Fi router is a critical piece of hardware as it knows all about your network traffic. Amazon already has a lot of data on consumers and its ownership of eero will enable it to get more intel. However, eero says that its new acquirer shares its view on privacy and going forward, the privacy policy will continue to guide their efforts.
The company stands by its three privacy principles. Firstly, eero respects the customers’ right to privacy and believes in providing them full control over their data. eero only collects network diagnostic information, which it uses to improve the performance and stability of its products and services. And lastly, eero says it tries to minimize its access to data, and whatever data it has, it ensures that it’s secure.
Eero uses the data it has to improve its products and services. Apart from network analytics, the company also collects information such as device utilization data for future product improvements. Eero also said that it doesn’t have the capability to collect browsing data from its networks and even routes it DNS requests with client information to its security partner, Zscaler. If new features are added in the future which need more data, the company will give customers the ability to opt-out.
Presumably to celebrate the acquisition, Amazon is selling the $400 eero bundle that has two eero beacons and one second-generation eero hub for $100 less. The acquisition will further Amazon’s smart home efforts as eero’s Wi-Fi technology is expandable and can support a growing number of connected devices.
The takeover comes at a critical time, with major tech companies receiving flak for their failure to keep consumer data safe. Amazon says that additional data from eero wouldn’t be all that useful for it anyway as the company only collects information on the type of internet devices being used and Amazon already derives that information from its sales stats and product ratings. Moreover, the retailer also collects information about the state of third-party devices that connect to Amazon services or use its assistant Alexa.
Amazon and eero are already working on Amazon’s WiFi Simple Setup, which will use saved, encrypted credentials from eero devices to connect new Amazon products. This will make setting up new devices a lot easier and hassle-free. In fact, it is during this project that Amazon started seeing eero as a company that can help with its smart home ambitions. eero’s products, on the other hands, may also benefit from Amazon’s Wi-Fi related innovations.