This is the third time I’ve tried to complete this post – let’s hope this one’s the charm. I was originally going to cover some of the latest smart-home product announcements that would make holiday season gifts; then after evaluating several I gave thought to writing about how to best implement smart home technology to enhance a difficult holiday season during COVID.
That’s where I hit a roadblock. Every time I researched which products to highlight and checked to see if there were any last minute releases I needed to consider, I found a new product that called to me. These late entrants all had a number of things in common – competitive feature sets, visually appealing industrial design, and prices that seemed too good to be true in the age of $2000 smartphones and $500 headphones. And they all came from the same company – Wyze Labs.
I have been tracking Wyze since 2017 when they launched an early backer campaign for a $20 security camera in that I joined. From there they went to $8 smart bulbs, $7 plugs, and a $50 DIY whole home security system. They were all priced far below the competition, and I purchased almost every one while maintaining some level of skepticism. My expectations have (almost) always been exceeded. In most cases, Wyze products function and look as good or better than others I’ve used. But I still remained uneasy – how can they continue to offer such quality at such a price? All Wyze products to date are controlled through a common app they provide. Surely that is the catch – the app must require a monthly subscription or bombard me with ads, right? But no, that isn’t the strategy (at least not yet).
Then came 2020 and COVID. While the tech giants continue to flourish thanks to entrenched market leadership and huge investment war chests, many mid-market technology companies have scaled back expansion plans to preserve cash while optimizing their current operations in order to remain competitive and ride out the storm. Others have been forced to slow their product introductions as supply chain issues have caused delays in manufacturing or extended shipping times. Still others offered products that simply are less needed in the work-from-home coronavirus world.
Again, here the team at Wyze has bucked the trend. Earlier this year, Wyze Labs – a company of roughly 100 people – expanded their product releases at a rate that companies ten, or even one hundred, times their size could not – or would not attempt. In 2020 Wyze has introduced the following list of connected devices – a door lock, a scale, a fitness band, an outdoor camera, a video doorbell, active noise cancellation headphones, a thermostat, a sprinkler controller, a robotic vacuum cleaner, and outdoor plug, and a smartwatch. Full disclosure, the last 3 have not shipped yet (at least I haven’t received mine), but for a relatively young, small company to take on such a portfolio of products is truly impressive.
Did I mention their products are aggressively priced? The noise cancelling headphones I received 2 weeks ago cost $49!!! These are not earbuds, but full over-the-ear headphones that rival ones I’ve owned from major audio brands costing five to ten times more. The robotic vacuum I ordered was less than $200 and the smartwatch is $20 – far less than competitive, established products. My first thought is that there are some smart folks at Wyze who have a great handle of their ODM relationships and supply chain. That said, I don’t own every Wyze product as some do not meet my needs, and not every Wyze product has been a hit. The first generation security system continues to languish on shelves at Home Depot, and I was disappointed with the Wyze Band – it offered too little functionality to justify its low $25 price.
Wyze is also not without its missteps in the software and services area which are key for successful connected products. Late last year they had a well-publicized data breach, following a successful CES show they lost their partner for face detection when it was acquired by Apple, and later in the summer they had to abandon their original commitment of ‘forever free‘ person detection notifications. These types of problems are not unique for a small, young company to make, but what is uncommon is how they faced these issues head-on, communicated clearly and frequently with customers and stakeholders, and worked diligently to solve the problems. Early backers were given a ‘name your own price option for face detection and future buyers still have the feature available for a modest fee (remember the camera is still only $20).
Few consumer tech hardware centric companies – even the giants – have shown such ability to learn so quickly and adapt to the intricacies required of a developing software platform business and navigated through crisis while continuing to delight customers. As a technology product professional with a long career in introducing high volume consumer digital products, I am truly impressed with the execution of the Wyze team, and maybe a little suspect that they could be leaving money on the table with prices lower than they need to be. The free unified app they provide makes it easy for me to see, control, configure, and update all the Wyze devices I own and allows simple creation of routines involving multiple products in the Wyze ecosystem.
Which leads me to my second question – what is Wyze doing with all the data about all my usage characteristics? They claim not to sell any personal identifying information to 3rd parties, though they do make anonymous data available to advertisers. I like the fact that as an independent company, Wyze is not integrating my smart home and connected device usage habits into a larger database that can be leveraged by the tech giants to further chip away at my privacy. Or is it? As I add Wyze devices into my personal ecosystem and create custom routines that link their features, certainly Wyze has enough data to understand my behaviors better than other companies who have been trying to get this information for years.
Which leads me to my last thought: how long can Wyze continue to grow and survive as a standalone entity before being an acquisition target of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, or someone else? Those four named have incredibly broad strong hardware and software businesses and a clear desire to expand their ecosystem pervasively with consumers. Some of them have already demonstrated their intent to use consumer data in ways end users did not expect or want. Can Wyze buck the trend and provide a quality product at a compelling price without ‘selling-out’?
CEO and co-founder Yun Zhang and the rest of the Wyze Labs team have built a great business by delivering well-designed products that enhance or simplify consumer’s lives at a terrific value. Here’s hoping 2021 brings them continued success by staying true to this strategy, staying independent, and keeping the customer first.