Facebook Launches New Portals for Home and (Home) Office
Facebook has introduced two new Portals. First up is the 10” portable Portal Go. Making it portable is the battery (with small magnetic charging dock), and a handle on the back for moving it around. It features a 12MP camera and 125-degree field of view. Second up is the second generation 14” Portal Plus. It has shrunk down from the 15.6” of the original Portal Plus, but still offers the 12MP camera, and 131-degree field of view. Facebook appears to be positioning this device for both personal and professional use…the display suitable for work video conferencing while freeing up your laptop (and second monitor, perhaps) for other tasks. The Portal Go and second-gen Portal Plus will start shipping on October 19, and retail for $199 and $340 respectively.
The NPD Take:
- The fact that Facebook has launched new Portal offerings reflects the company’s commitment to this space. They continue to position the Portal primarily as a video-chat device – which serves to distinguish them from smart displays from Amazon and Google…but could be limiting the application of how consumers want to use displays in the home. On the other hand, a new focus on work chat is interesting and makes complete sense given how many of us are still working from home – but does raise the question of whether it should be the employer or the employee providing the device. As such, Facebook has launched Portal for Business – a service for SMBs to deploy and manage the devices and collaboration services on-board. The portability angle is also interesting, but cuts down on the potential opportunity to sell multiple Portals into one home.
Wyze Introduces Cam Pan v2
The Wyze Cam Pan v2 takes the original Cam Pan and adds in color night vision, all for $39.99 ($10 more than the original). The color night vision includes Wyze’s Starlight CMOS sensor, which is intended to make it easy to see movement in your home at night. The new camera also has upgrade motion tracking for faster detection and tracking of moving objects. Like the original, it continues with 1080p video and the same 360-degree horizontal and 93-degree vertical pan and tilt.
The NPD Take:
- Wyze continues to be a leading provider of ultra-low cost smart home devices, including its cameras. However, its growth in the indoor camera segment where it first started is way down (a.ka. in the negative) from where it was a few years ago, which speaks to the need to uncover new consumers, or give its current users a reason to upgrade. Meanwhile, though, the brand’s newer outdoor camera segment is doing well.