Roku could soon be expanding its horizons past the online streaming market.
A Reddit user seems to have spotted one of the company's unannounced smart home products in a market somewhere in the US that isn't for streaming online entertainment to houses or devices.
Roku's expansion into the smart home market is no surprise - Protocol mentioned in its article on May 24, 2021, that the company could do so in the future through partnerships and in-house developed products.
Roku Unannounced Smart Home Products Details
A Reddit user going by the username Negative_Source_7316 posted a picture of what seems to be a smart light strip from Roku on Oct. 10 in the r/Roku subreddit.
The product alone is an enigma in and of itself, as a smart light strip won't do much, as the thread's comments show. However, it may have been made to provide more accurate ambient light without a camera, as two Redditors mentioned in the comments section.
The thread also revealed that Roku has smart LED bulbs and security cameras that, like the light strip, are also unannounced. However, the thread didn't show any pictures of the two products.
Although these products could be made up, two shipping manifests spotted by ZatzNotFunny revealed that they could be true. According to the shipping manifests, the smart LED bulbs would come from China-based Tianjin Hualai Technology Co., Ltd and would be shipped to Portland, Oregon. The manifest also revealed that the name of the LED bulb is "ROKU SMART BULB SE A19."
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Unfortunately, there was no shipping manifest to confirm the existence of a Roku security camera.
The Verge reported that aside from a smart light strip, LED bulb, and security camera, Roku allegedly has a smart plugin in its smart home lineup.
The company could also be planning on launching a dedicated Roku Smart Home channel that might allow users to control devices running its operating system, which would range from smart TVs to streaming boxes.
Roku's expansion into the smart home scene isn't surprising. The partnerships it made and the products it developed in-house before 2021 showed that the company wanted to expand into the smart home market from the start.
It even posted a job listing for a "Director of Product Management, Home Technolgies" to expand its coverage and remain competitive. The would-be employee would've been tasked to develop Roku's home technology product strategy and its roadmap but was taken down for unknown reasons.
Repackaging Wyze Products?
However, there could be cause for skepticism about Roku's expansion into the smart home market. AFTV News mentioned in an article that the company is repackaging Wyze cameras, lights, and plugs as its own products.
The similarities between a Wyze smart home product and Roku's could be clearly seen when put together, as 9to5Mac found.
Whether true or not, people now have various reasons to expect a newcomer into the smart home market in the foreseeable future - Roku.
