Eero had grand smart home aspirations. Now Amazon owns them all

Amazon says it’s buying Eero, a maker of popular mesh Wi-Fi routers, for an undisclosed sum.

“We are incredibly impressed with the Eero team and how quickly they invented a WiFi solution that makes connected devices just work,” Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services, said in a press release. “We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we’re committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers.”

Although Eero made a name for itself selling routers that use multiple access points to cover the home with Wi-Fi, the startup was always clear about having broader ambitions beyond hardware sales. Its latest routers support a nascent smart home device protocol called Thread, and the company offers a subscription service called Eero Plus that can block ads, malware, and age-inappropriate content at the network level.

The smart home angle appears to have attracted Amazon, whose stated goal is to make Alexa-powered light bulbs and door locks as simple to install as their analog counterparts. Don’t be surprised if Eero prices drop as Amazon looks to control even more homes at the network level.