Wink Inks Deal to Sell New Smart Home Hub at Walmart

The Wink Hub 2 is the next generation of the company's original home automation hub, which users have connected to more than 1.7 million products.
Published: October 3, 2016

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Wink, the smart home company based here, is releasing a new product this fall that will be sold for the first time in Walmart stores.

The company develops a smart home platform that can connect devices, such as light bulbs and security systems, from different manufacturers and companies together with one app and device called a hub. Wink claims to have more than 1.7 million devices connected to its platform.

The new product – Wink Hub 2 – is said to offer a faster Wi-Fi connection and can support smart home products that connect with Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Kidde and Lutron Clear Connect.


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Wink Hub 2 will cost about $100. It will be sold, starting in late October, at The Home Depot, Walmart, Walmart.com, Amazon.com and Wink.com. The Wink mobile app is available for free download through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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The new product launch is the latest step for the smart home company after it spun-off from Quirky, the amateur inventor platform, last year and was acquired.

Wink was started in 2014 as a brand initially launched as an app for GE + Quirky products. After Quirky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, Wink, which was an independent company inside Quirky, was acquired by Flextronics Int’l USA (NASDAQ: FLEX). It was part of Flextronics’ push into the Internet of Things (IoT) market. Flex had been making Wink’s smart home hubs.

The acquisition let Wink remain an independent company with its own management structure for day-to-day business operations.

You can learn more about the Wink 2 hub in this video.

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