Buy a Ring Alarm Security Kit on Amazon, Get a Free Echo Dot
Image Credit: Amazon
Amazon is offering a free Echo Dot with purchase of the Ring Alarm Security Kit, which starts at $199 for a five-piece kit. The starter kit includes the Base Station, the Keypad, a Contact Sensor, a Motion Detector, and a Range Extender and the eight, eleven, fourteen, and fifteen-piece kits are also included in the promotion. Users of the Ring Alarm system receive mobile alerts when doors and windows open, or when motion is detected around their home. Alexa is compatible with the devices and can be used to arm, disarm, and check the status of the security system. The promo is reminiscent of Huawei and Spotify’s recent smart speaker giveaways. Last week Huawei announced it was giving away a free Sonos One Speaker with P30 or P30 Pro smartphone pre-order to residents in the U.K. and Ireland. Last Fall, Spotify was offering a free Google Home Mini to Family Plan Account Holders.
Amazon and Alexa Want Control of the Whole Home
However, this isn’t a partnership between two companies like the other promotions as Amazon owns Ring. Amazon purchased the smart home company for more than $1 billion in 2018, then dropped its prices by 43% in order to undercut its smart home security competitors, including Google-owned Nest. Amazon’s decision to create this promotion is motivated by the company’s desire to maintain the smart speaker market share. One way to do this is through smart home adoption.
Voicebot research from this year’s Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report found that a third of smart homeowners control their devices through smart speakers on a monthly basis, an 11% increase from the previous year. The 2019 report also found that smart home devices are popular among smart speaker owners, with more than 55% of smart speaker owners reporting they have at least one voice-controlled smart home device. Amazon is taking advantage of the mutual interest between smart home device and smart speaker owners to drive consumer adoption and to increase Alexa’s presence in consumers’ homes.
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