While some companies kept the hybrid working model after the stay-at-home orders, others went back to their offices. And with employees leaving their homes more frequently, the need for house protection increased.
There are various threats that can happen when a house is left unattended, so it’s not surprising when people get security cameras after experiencing theft or a home invasion. However, as Alex Song, the Founder and CEO of AlfredCamera, states, people also use security cameras for general reassurance – whether it’s checking up on the kids, pets, or valuables left at home.
To learn more about security cameras and their benefits, Cybernews caught up with Alex Song to discuss all things security and what lies in store for a company specializing in smart security camera solutions.
Let’s go back to the very beginning of AlfredCamera. What has the journey been like?
AlfredCamera was not our first time exploring the IoT consumer market. Before Alfred, we built a range of consumer IoT products that weren’t successful. The biggest lesson we learned from this period was that the rate at which we sell hardware products globally can’t meet the kind of exponential user growth we’re looking for, especially when you have to deal with the logistics of global distribution.
That’s when we stumbled on the idea of repurposing old phones in 2015. It was a crazy idea from the start, but we saw the potential in prioritizing software development over hardware. No one thought we could make it happen – who keeps their old phone? 45 million downloads later, we’re glad we took the chance.
Can you introduce us to your camera solutions? What features make AlfredCamera stand out from the crowd?
The number of smartphone users in the world today is over 6 billion, which translates to 83.72% of the world’s population. It’s this landscape that makes software surveillance solutions like AlfredCamera truly accessible for most people in the world. People don’t need to break the bank just to feel safe. Instead, they can simply download our home security app on a spare phone, turning it into a fully-functional security camera.
We’ve been able to recreate some of the most popular security camera features on a smartphone device, including AI-powered Motion Detection, Low-Light Filters (similar to night vision), Two-Way Talk, and Siren. We’re proud to have brought such technical features to people in a simple and affordable way.
In your opinion, what are the most common reasons someone might opt for a security camera?
It’s easy to understand why people would want to get a security camera after personally experiencing incidents such as thefts, break-ins, or home invasions. Even if we’re lucky enough not to have experienced these things ourselves, almost all of us know someone that has. A security camera is a means of protection that can be used as evidence after an unfortunate event when something like this happens.
However, based on internal research we conducted late last year, we found that the majority of our users turned to our solution for peace of mind in a general sense. That means they wanted a security camera to make sure that everything is fine when they’re away from home, whether that’s to watch over their pets, children, or valuables. For many users, AlfredCamera is put to use for a fairly broad combination of things.
How did the pandemic affect your industry? Did you add any new features as a result?
At the peak of the pandemic, the global lockdown measures had a huge impact on our business. We saw our active users (DAUs) drop by around 10-20%. The United States was among the most affected regions. As people were at home constantly, there was less need for surveillance. But as the pandemic started winding down and parts of the population began to return to the office, things improved.
On the other hand, the pandemic pet adoption boom opened up another avenue for AlfredCamera. Up until then, AlfredCamera was mostly associated with home security. While the majority of US consumers still use AlfredCamera for monitoring their homes and property, we’ve certainly seen growth in other areas, not least of all in pet monitoring.
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by Cybernews Team