Roku is ditching its smart home business after just four years. That’s according to freelance journalist Janko Roettgers, who reports in his Lowpass newsletter today that the company has confirmed the exit.

A Roku spokesperson told Roettgers Roku will wind down sales of its smart home hardware and focus on “being the top streaming platform.” Roku will continue supporting the products and their associated services, the spokesperson told Roettgers. Most of the smart home products on the company’s website are now sold out.

Roku released its first smart home devices in 2022, including the Roku Indoor Camera SE, a wired camera that it had co-developed with Wyze—which is very obvious when you look at pictures of the thing. The initial line-up also included a wireless doorbell, numerous indoor and outdoor cameras, smart bulbs and light strips, and smart plugs—all rebadged versions of pre-existing devices. None of the products went for more than $100.

The company has since released a pair of what it said were in-house-developed outdoor cameras, the $40 Roku Battery Camera and the $60 Roku Battery Camera Plus, which Gizmodo got a peek at last year. Those devices were most notable for their batteries, which the company claimed could last up to two years per charge.

It may seem odd that Roku, a mainly TV and set-top box streaming device maker, was in the smart home space at all. But then, it fits within the company’s business model of selling hardware on the cheap and supplementing with ads and subscriptions.

Source link