Samsung’s Dropcam competitor is called Perch, helps you monitor your home from an Android phone
One of the biggest trends in technology right now is home automation. Before smartphones it was nearly impossible to know what was going on at your home while you were away. New products, like the Google-owned Dropcam, have made it possible for ordinary people to easily monitor their home from afar at a reasonable price.
Samsung is the another company looking to break into home automation. Last year they acquired SmartThings, a company who has created a popular open platform for connected devices. A new patent from Samsung suggests they are ready to create their own hardware or software for the platform, and it could be a direct competitor to Dropcam.
The patent filed on April 1st, 2015 is for something called “Perch.” Here’s what the description says:
“computer application software for mobile devices for remotely controlling and monitoring video cameras and video feeds; computer vision system for home automation comprised of methods for image and signal processing, object detection and recognition, and motion analysis”
It’s not far of a stretch to see how this is a competitor to Dropcam, a device that you can perch on a shelf to watch your home. The patent is for a mobile application, but we would be surprised if Samsung didn’t have hardware to go with it. They’ve already created home WiFi surveillance cameras in the past. The interesting thing is that Dropcam already works with the SmartThings system, but a device from Samsung could offer more tightly integrated features and software.
This would be a huge move for Samsung. With Samsung’s ability to pump out hardware, and the excellent SmartThings platform, there is massive potential here. Many companies are dabbling in home automation, but there are no clear front-runners yet. Samsung could be the one to step into that position. Have you bought any home automation devices? Would you buy a Dropcam competitor from Samsung?