Home Depot enters connected home market

Atlanta – Following Staples’ expansion of its Staples Connect home and office automation platform to 500 stores, The Home Depot is making Wink-enabled connected home products available for purchase in its nearly 2,000 U.S. stores and online.



The Wink platform unites close to 60 devices with 15 manufacturers of home products ranging from light bulbs and locks to window shades, irrigation systems and water heaters. All Wink-enabled products are operated through the free iOS and Android Wink app that lets consumers personalize their experience. For example, a consumer can operate just one light bulb or all of the light bulbs in a particular room, or they can group the light bulbs with other products in a particular area of their home.



Wink has also developed Wink HUB to support products that do not connect directly to the Internet. The Wink HUB works with connected products from other brands, allowing for control of any smart product from the Wink app. The Wink HUB MSRP is $79.99. However, through Labor Day at The Home Depot, the Wink HUB is priced at $49.99. With the purchase of one Wink-compatible product from The Home Depot, the price of the Wink HUB drops to $24.99, and with the purchase of two Wink-compatible products, it drops to $0.99. The Wink HUB has no monthly fees or contracts and supports protocols including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Lutron ClearConnect.



In addition, the Wink app will be available to download for Google's Android Wear, allowing Android users to receive alerts and operate their connected home products from anywhere.