LG is in fierce competition with other electronics conglomerates to establish a presence in the nascent smart home sector, with its latest move being the acquisition of Netherlands-based Athom, which develops its own hub and OS, with its flagship product, the Homey Pro, capable of connecting to more than 50,000 devices across a range of connection types.
The 10-year-old Homey boasts a loyal customer base of hundreds of thousands of people across Europe and its devices are sold throughout Europe, as well as in Australia, Singapore, the US and Canada. Athom offers around 1,000 applications to connect and control smart home devices from brands such as Philips Hue and IKEA.
LG hopes to integrate Athom's ecosystem with its Affectionate Intelligence technology, as well as combine the smart home technology of the LG ThinQ platform with Athom's open ecosystem and IoT device connectivity.
“The acquisition of Atom will be a cornerstone of our AI Home business,” said Chung Ki-hyun, executive vice president and head of the Platform Business Center at LG. “By leveraging the synergies between the two companies, we aim to expand our open ecosystem and external integration services to provide customers with a more diverse and multidimensional spatial experience.”
An LG press statement said Athom will maintain its business operations and brand after the acquisition and will continue to operate independently.