Amazon does have a host of devices developed for homes. The Amazon Echo was one of the popular ones. Here’s one that they’re going to release that won’t be so popular – a device to unlock doors.
The smart lock is designed to let the logistics team access a home in owner’s absence.
Amazon is tying up with two start-ups called August and Garageio that are known for making smart locks and garage doors. Apparently, they’re coming up with a way to unlock people’s doors when the customers aren’t at home. So this does give the delivery man access to a customer’s house without them suspecting. Whether people are inside their homes or not, the delivery person can easily drop by the package and leave.
The smart locks are designed to only let the delivery man access specific parts or entry-ways of the house at certain windows of time through a special tagging mechanism via pins on smartphones, according to Wearable’s report.
Now whether this is convenient or it ruins the privacy of the consumer will be a pretty one-sided debate. It does require the consumer to have a lot of trust towards Amazon to give them the power to enter their homes as they wish. It’s a big risk and not many people would opt to take that chance, even for a company as big as Amazon. At the end of the day, it’s a human element that delivers the package.
Amazon’s ongoing endeavor is clearly to expedite deliveries and cut costs for secondary packaging and logistics. But in order for the features to work, users will have to install the devices on their homes. Compatibility, installation and surrounding of the area will be prime factors for trying these ‘keys’. It doesn’t really feel like a viable approach for Amazon to keep pushing forward, nor can it justify the costs for developing the tech and fitting and installing it into peoples’ houses.
The tech is pretty still in its initial stages and Amazon is doing a lot of test runs in its home state of Seattle. Whether this strategy of theirs will work or even make an impact is still for discussion. One thing is for sure, don’t expect this tech to enter any Asian country such as India. It’ll be a massacre of privacy.