Thomas said she didn’t want to speak on behalf of SmartThings’ founders, but she did list many reasons why pairing up with the global corporation made sense for them, given the nascent and transformative market they’re operating in. “Samsung is the biggest player in the mobile market and mobile handsets, they have a huge electronics division which includes very large television and other electronics businesses, and they also have an extremely impressive digital appliances business.” As for the future, iOS users can quell their worries that Samsung will prohibit development for the iPhone. Samsung is embracing SmartThings’ open platform – which allows developers to create apps that plug into their smart home technology – and Thomas trusts that they are genuine. In short, we can expect that SmartThings won’t be changing much about its core strategy or brand, which is good news for its current users and fans. “There’s a certain amount of faith that goes into it. . . . There’s a certain gut check that you do and you have to make a call, and you make it based on the information you have.” SmartThings cofounder and CTO Jeff Hagins will be joining us on October 6-7 in Las Vegas for our big annual event, Tech Cocktail Celebrate Conference – grab your tickets here!
