iDevices is selling off its smart-thermometer business to outdoor-grill maker Weber Stephens Products so it can focus on connected-home products, iDevices announced.
iDevices was founded six years ago with the launch of the Bluetooth-enabled iGrill grilling thermometer. The company since then expanded its Bluetooth thermometer line to include the iGrill2, iGrillmini, KitchenThermometer and Kitchen Thermometermini.
“This acquisition will really allow for iDevices to focus 100 percent of its efforts on home automation and our iDevices Connected app,” marketing director Lianne Kersey told TWICE. “We will focus on our connected home products — the iDevices Switch, Outdoor Switch, Thermostat and four new products announced at CES 2016.”
Weber will get iDevice’s app-enabled grilling and cooking thermometer brands, iGrill and Kitchen Thermometer. iDevices will work with Weber to release the next-generation iGrill app, expected to be available in the spring. Weber will continue to offer and expand the line of connected-cooking products, iDevices added.
iDevices’ current Wi-Fi-enabled connected-home products consist of a $59-suggested smart electrical outlet that plugs into existing electrical outlets, a $149 thermostat, and a $79 outdoor smart outlet, which plugs into an existing outdoor outlet. All are Apple HomeKit-enabled.
In the first quarter, iDevices plans to ship a light-bulb socket that screws into a conventional light-bulb socket to turn a standard light bulb into a smart bulb. In the second quarter, an in-wall dimmer switch is expected to ship, and in the third quarter, iDevices plans availability of a smart in-wall electrical outlet that replaces a standard outlet.
iDevices employs more than 70 people in Avon, Conn., and Cupertino, Calif.
All employees will remain with iDevices following the product-line acquisition.
