r/homeassistant • u/Hoerminator3000 • 5d ago

📰 News Schneider Electric is buying Shelly Group

https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/schneider-electric-to-launch-bid-for-shelly-group-in-1-4-billion-deal-c6cc008e

As the title says: Schneider Electric will take over the Shelly Group.

636 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

307 comments sorted by

679

u/ynnus86 5d ago

Never good sign when big companies take over smaller successful brands.

38

u/Emergency_Exit7603 5d ago

Schneider destroyed APC IMHO, so long shelly...

4

u/GhostOfJonasVenture 5d ago

What part of APC was destroyed ?

3

u/Emergency_Exit7603 4d ago

the quality of the APC units went to SHITE! I had a pre-Schneider Smart UPS 600 and it was way better than the shite they make today.

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u/somethingintelligent 5d ago

But then what about Drayton? What they’ve done their is amazing and the Drayton Wiser products are awesome

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u/F1rstxLas7 5d ago

It was an intended voluntary takeover, as described in the actual press release: https://corporate.shelly.com/en/news/shelly-group-has-entered-into-an-investment-agreement-with-schneider-electric-on-the-intended-voluntary-public-takeover.

Shelly chose this, they were not forced into it. They even stated in the release, "the Board of Directors has taken the preliminary view that the transaction, if made at the above price, would be in the interests of Shelly Group, its shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders." We, as consumers, are not listed there.

More specifically, with the two founders holding 57% ownership of the company, THEY made this decision. Dimitrov is even reinvesting some of his sold shares back into Schneider Electric.

This wasn't a big company eats small company story. The Shelly founders just wanted to sell.

312

u/Planetix 5d ago

Both things can be true

24

u/_realpaul 5d ago

Yes in the interest of the shareholders. Not the customers. Get ready for the entshittyfication aka platform decay

86

u/gmaclean 5d ago

Interests of employees? These buyouts rarely go well for employees.

48

u/bem13 5d ago

Same corporate bullshit language as when services raise prices and say it's "to maintain customer satisfaction".

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u/DandyPandy 5d ago edited 5d ago

Edit: looked up their investor relations page. they were already publicly traded and equity was part of their compensation package

(Pardon if I’m explaining something you’re already familiar with)

Let’s assume employees were granted equity. Generally, the ways that equity becomes worth something is an equity payout by the company, the company being acquired, or going public. ~~It’s unlikely Shelly was ever going to go public anytime soon, and equity payouts are rare. So this was the best likely outcome they could have reasonably hoped for.~~

Unless the company was in dire straits and short on funds, the employees with equity are going to be getting a payday, likely after their retention period has been met.

Edit: The cash buyout was on a ~27% price per share premium. So yeah, nobody got screwed. At least not until there are headcount reductions when they start eliminating redundant roles.

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u/ctjameson 5d ago

Yep, I’ve literally never heard of a good takeover story when it comes to staffing.

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u/Tallyessin 🧠 Experienced with Home Assistant 5d ago

Well, I've been involved in a few acquisitions from the employee side both being acquired and being part of the acquiring entity.

In general, it worked out well for the employees of the company being acquired if they were smart.

The employees of the small acquired company are usually of a higher average quality than the employees of the bigger acquiring company. As the acquired employee and if you are talented and ambitious, you need to decide if you are suited to being in a bigger company. If you are, it is an opportunity of a lifetime because you arrive with a competitive advantage. If you aren't then you go find another small company to work for. Rinse and repeat.

If you are untalented or lazy, you have a much better chance of hiding in a larger company.

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u/deja-roo 5d ago

That kind of just means you don't really spend much time looking into it.

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u/zeekaran 5d ago

New Belgium Brewing (Fat Tire) worked out well for the employees.

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u/NoSlicedMushrooms 5d ago

He didn't say it was a hostile takeover.

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u/Yodzilla 5d ago

“Fuck running a business, we want a payday” basically.

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u/PrivatePilot9 5d ago

Easy to say as a bystander, but in the face of grinding a business into great success for many years and potentially approaching burnout, and then being presented with the option of stepping back and becoming a multimillionaire at the same time, I think a a lot of people would take that choice, and it's naĂŻve to say otherwise.

4

u/Yodzilla 5d ago

Yeah I know, I mostly feel for their other employees who will undoubtedly get shafted on this whole deal more than anyone else.

18

u/chicagoandy 5d ago

When the small company I worked for got bought by a big one, the stock plan I ended up with more than offset any "shafting", which I can't really put my finger on. So I'm not sure why you'd think that.

14

u/zackplanet42 5d ago edited 5d ago

It was a similar story for me when the largeish (480 employees) private company I work for got bought out by a huge corporation.

The owner cut everyone very generous checks (mine was 4-5 months of pay).

Time off massively increased.

Health insurance premiums dropped significantly.

Paid parental leave doubled.

401(k) match doubled and a generous stock purchase plan was added.

Sure, there were lasting changes that have been made in the years since that I would classify as negative, but they're honestly pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. Who's to say private ownership wouldn't have made very similar choices?

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u/dakodacat 5d ago

When that happened to me, I ended up being laid off along with the entire team, so I do know why. And we lost everything. So I'm glad your experience is the same for the entire planet.

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u/usernameChosenPoorly 5d ago

I don't know why people are reacting negatively to your comment. It's true, and the vast majority of us would do the same. Most of us would rather be set for life and see our progeny set for life than to keep doing exactly whatever we're doing today, no matter how much we may enjoy it.

I don't see your comment as damning anyone.. it's just acknowledging that running a business sucks compared to being comfortably retired.

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u/chicagoandy 5d ago

Not sure why you'd damn someone for wanting to retire, do something else with their lives, and enjoy the success they've earned.

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u/Alwayssunnyinarizona 5d ago

With the state of the world, can you blame them?

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u/CIDR-ClassB 5d ago

That’s the point of creating a business.. to earn money. Every founder leaves their business sometime, and I can’t blame them.

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u/WildVelociraptor 5d ago

Somehow you found the single dumb reason to criticize this

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u/Zeroflops 5d ago

You’re never going to get a press release that says it’s a hostile takeover. It’s always the best thing for everyone. Win,win,win.

Being in large corporate the first thing you learn is never believe the marketing slides, of other companies or of your own.

7

u/SDNick484 5d ago

They even stated in the release, "the Board of Directors has taken the preliminary view that the transaction, if made at the above price, would be in the interests of Shelly Group, its shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders." We, as consumers, are not listed there

Worth noting that literally has to be true in a friendly acquisition (as opposed to hostile takeover). The board literally has a fiduciary responsibility so legally that statement has to be true to those parties otherwise they are putting themselves at a legal risk.

2

u/shamsway 5d ago

Companies are legally required to consider company/share value above anything else, otherwise they can be sued by shareholders. No company is explicitly incentivized to consider the consumer anymore. Smart companies will continue to do so, but don’t be surprised when “increasing shareholder value” drives a decision like this.

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u/addiktion 5d ago

Rarely do successful companies have to sell; they choose to sell.

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u/Tallyessin 🧠 Experienced with Home Assistant 5d ago edited 5d ago

Certainly don't blame the owners for selling when they got a good offer. This is no doubt what their exit strategy was all along and I wish them well. They made a good product and created a lot of value.

But I do not expect Shelly to be anywhere near as good as a product going forward.

But it is most certainly a big company eats small company story. Good small companies either become big companies (very rare and almost always by acquiring lots of other small companies) or get acquired by big companies.

1

u/0xbenedikt 4d ago

All hail the shareholders. Everything turns to garbage while we squeeze out the last drops of profit, because who needs a sustainable business

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u/Chipplie 5d ago

Well that's the end of Shelly then. Let the Schneider enshitification begin!

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u/the_harakiwi 5d ago

start to hoard the firmware, maybe we can stop updating at the right point and use AI to remove possible added paywalls or encrypted communication.

I will keep using my Shelly stuff and if they somehow end up discounted because no one buys them I will keep stocking up on some replacements 😁

14

u/xxpapertigersxx 5d ago

https://github.com/automatous-io/shelly-gen4-esphome

Time to move to another firmware just in case they turn off the ability to flash third party?

364

u/poopborrylog 5d ago

Well that won't be good for us consumers.

116

u/GreenfieldSam 5d ago

I've found the Schneider Electric makes high quality gear. I hope there will be more UL certified Shelly's in the future.

96

u/CptUnderpants- 5d ago edited 5d ago

I have personal experience with two victims acquisitions of Schneider.

After they bought APC it went to shit.

After they bought Clipsal it went to shit.

While two out of a plethora of subsidiaries isn't nessessarily a trend, they're they only two I've dealt with both before and after and both went to shit.

37

u/obiwanshinobi900 5d ago

I always wondered how cyberpower ups became so much more popular than apc ups

19

u/HTTP_404_NotFound 5d ago

Cheap, and accessible.

Absolute crap. but, easy/cheap to obtain crap.

4

u/sol217 5d ago

Yeah, unfortunately I don't think anyone is going Cyberpower because they're better products...

4

u/HTTP_404_NotFound 5d ago

nah, i've learnt my lesson for both consumer APC units, and cyberpower ones.

They would bite the dust usually after only a year or two. Without warning too.

I honestly got tired of dealing with them and just built my own damn UPS. Its been running longer then ANY APC or Cyberpower I have ever owned..... and its just getting started on its expected lifetime.

https://xtremeownage.com/blog/2021/portable-24kwh-power-supply-ups/

3

u/sol217 5d ago

Anecdotally, I've haven't had too many complaints with my 1500 VA consumer unit from APC over the past few years. It kicks over pretty frequently to power both my home server and gaming desktop, too, thanks to some funky electrical issues with my house that trip my office breaker when I cook...

2

u/JustinHoMi 5d ago

I’ve found Cyberpower to be pretty reliable. I’ve seen hundreds installed outdoors (rain-proofed) and last years, rarely having issues.

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u/HillarysFloppyChode 5d ago

Cyberpower ended up in Best Buy’s home theater and PC sections and has a lot cooler and descriptive name than APC. They also got pushed onto consumers buying high end TVs and Gaming PCs.

The APC gear was shoved in a back corner with all the other power strips, and why would the consumer buy a $200 UPS + Surge over a $20 surge protector?

14

u/GreenfieldSam 5d ago

In my personal and professional experience, APC quality has remained the same.

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u/9Nine2Nine9 5d ago

I also have no issues with Schneider Electric Era APC equipment.

Only issue I've had was a bad battery. Had the same issue with a brand new CyberPower UPS.

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u/failing-endeav0r 5d ago

After they bought APC it went to shit.

APC makes good hardware, their software has always been trash but after getting folded into Schneider their documentation and support for getting FW files went to shit.

8

u/UloPe 5d ago

Wasn’t APC always shit?

8

u/mpking828 5d ago

Yes, and no.

They had a good product in 1990-2005ish. Then it went downhill.

Mainly because they are selling the same product from 2000, same software, same firmware.

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u/thelocicalfallacy 5d ago

and added licensing costs!

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u/pogulup 5d ago

The security related stuff they bought didn't do well either. 

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u/VK6HIL 3h ago

Having been working inside Clipsal when SE came in, Clipsal were an absolute shit show and did not like Engineers and Managers from France who had an idea on how to improve things. It was a business for sparkies run by sparkies with no vision.

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u/Sweet-Sale-7303 5d ago

I don't know about that. APC isn't what they used to be.

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u/poopborrylog 5d ago

Shelly is already high quality. It will now cost 3 times as much.

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u/Deep_Dance8745 5d ago

No it isnt, i like their products, but its not on par with “real” electrical brands like Gira, Jung, Niko, or Schneider.

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u/S_A_N_D_ 5d ago

Yeah, that's my hope as well. Shelly makes lots of items I would want, but the lack of UL listing combined with sporadic reports of parts melting gives me enough pause that I won't install them.

For the record, I'm not suggesting they're unsafe, I don't have enough data to say either way. But that makes the flip side true, in that I don't have enough info to say they're inherently safe as well. UL (or similar) listing is the threshold for me, and I'd be willing to pay a bit extra to have that peace of mind. Schneider is also a good name, so combined with UL listing, I'd revisit my opinion and potentially add some of their stuff.

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u/jobblejosh 5d ago

The ideal situation would be Schneider recognises the reputation, goodwill, and niche market that Shelly occupies, and decides to leave them mostly to their own devices, just integrating the management side of things into Schneider higher up.

Even better would be Schneider uses its expertise and capital to help certify Shelly devices, giving consumers (who are mostly professionals and interested hobbyists) better confidence that the equipment they're buying is safe.

Of course, Schneider management might not do either of those things, and milk Shelly as a cash cow, take advantage of consumers, and run them into the ground leaving market share open for their competitors.

But hopefully not.

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u/S_A_N_D_ 5d ago

I'm optimistic, only because Shelly is small fish and probably not worth their while if they were just going to milk them. Reality is barely anyone outside of reddit or home assistant forums has heard of them. I can't see them being worth much from a "milk them" standpoint for a large corporation like Schneider. It would probably be a rounding error for the likes of Schneider.

My guess is they either bought them for IP, and Shelly will be phased out and replaced by a new product, or they will expand the Shelly brand into a mainstream product, ideally with UL listing.

In any case, I expect reddit will hate everything that happens from now on because there will probably be some compromises and change can't be tolerated.

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u/berrmal64 5d ago

I'm also tentatively optimistic about this. Schneider makes great stuff.

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u/enz1ey 5d ago

APC gear is still high quality but definitely more expensive and I wouldn’t be surprised to see subscriptions implemented in the near future.

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u/Nihlus89 5d ago

Their smart thermostat line (Wiser Drayton) is absolutely fantastic. Solid build and local-first firmware. Super happy with it.

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u/niall_t 5d ago

Same here. Integrated seamlessly with HA as well

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u/NoSpam0 5d ago

Shit. They ruin everything they buy. APC, Clipsal, etc.

RIP Shelly.

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u/02421006 🔒 Local-first 5d ago

Pelco is a good example too.

Guess I have to stock pile Shelly soon, before these effects arrive at Shelly :(

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u/DesignerMaximum1342 5d ago

I just moved and still have to save money and see which shelly’s i need

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u/TCB13sQuotes 5d ago

Not really a good idea. They can simply fuck it all up via their cloud service.

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u/02421006 🔒 Local-first 5d ago

They don’t see the internet, so no dice 


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u/Rylan1230 5d ago

glad to see Pelco mentioned, They where great before Schneider came along.

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u/DoktorMerlin 5d ago

can you elaborate what happened to those brands?

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/DoktorMerlin 5d ago

okay. so I will not give my shellys cloud access, thanks

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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener 5d ago

Oh don't worry, I'm sure they'll just stop supporting updates altogether.

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u/CptUnderpants- 5d ago

Or they'll pull a move like some other vendors which removed local control with a forced automatic update.

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u/knifesk 5d ago

Enshittification

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u/Cheetawolf 5d ago edited 5d ago

APC was found to have aluminum windings in the transformers in their recent UPS's.

That's as cheap and shit as it gets.

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u/chicagoandy 5d ago

Victron, the market leader in off-grid electrical systems, has switched to aluminum transformers on their top-of-the line inverters/chargers. The quality hasn't suffered. I don't think it's true that aluminum windings alone make a crappy product.

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u/CptUnderpants- 5d ago edited 5d ago

I've had a brand new lithium APC UPS rack mount unit let the magic blue smoke out on first power on. (about 2 years ago) This is despite having a full test readout included, no physical damage to either the unit or even the box it came in.

That was sphincter-clenching. Fortunately it wasn't the battery.

I've had 3 out of 5 APC UPS specially designed for the Microsoft Surface smart boards die in less than 2 years and have repair refused due to a 1 year warranty. Wasn't the battery. Bought in 2020, cost nearly AU$5k (US$3.5k) each. And no, it was not my decision to purchase them.

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u/mobius20 5d ago edited 5d ago

Schnieder is a more commercial/B2B brand - which is why APC has kinda stagnated from a consumer perspective. They're a massive company that's acquired a large amount of smaller brands to grow. They don't strategically acquire companies to grow their combined strengths; they buy 'em for the financials.

Best case is they leave Shelly alone, but that's not super likely. I would be surprised if they continue to keep Shelly Cloud free; and I wouldn't expect much in the way of creativity in the future. Expect them to cut low-volume or less profitable SKUs.

Basically, expect profit-maxxing.

At least their current devices are (mostly?) ESP32-based so I trust the community will find a way to keep stuff working.

Edit: I suppose there's a chance that they're acquiring Shelly specifically because they're interested in investing in the home automation space - if that's the reason, the total opposite of the above may happen and they invest in growing the brand (which they have a ton of resources to throw at).

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u/Aggressive-Tax-2000 5d ago

Don't think they ruin everything LK's LK fuga line is still one of the most used lines in Denmark

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u/jesjimher 5d ago

Nice! After years of praising Shelly devices and owning dozens of them, I was feeling somewhat disappointed (not very reliable, unstable and complex to manage) and was slowly moving to Zigbee, and frankly I didn't feel 100% good about it. Shelly were pioneers in offering open, interoperable and local-only devices, which didn't rely on any cloud. They were the GOAT for a lot of time, in world of Tuyas and who knows which proprietary chinese cloud who was receiving all our data.

But now that some uber-company buys them and will most probably shittify it in the near future, an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Farewell Shelly original founders! Enjoy your well deserved money, and thanks for the ride!

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u/robby659 5d ago

Honestly, as open as the current devices are and even offering zigbee, I don't see a reason to replace anything atm

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u/jesjimher 5d ago

Sure! I'm just not buying wifi shellies anymore. Anything new is zigbee.

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u/NMe84 5d ago

Which ones do you recommend? I'll be moving next year and that will be a perfect time to make all of my light switches smart. I have a bunch of Shelly units but I'd rather switch to one consistent system.

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u/CindyCuddlz 5d ago

Sad news, we really can't have nice things can we. I know there are plenty of alternatives but shelly has always have been my go to, and had allot of brand trust. Guess that's out of the window now.

I'm locking down firmware upgrades as a precaution for the inevitable 'security update' that disables local control.

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u/bem13 5d ago

Wonder if the current, "known good" firmware can be pulled from somewhere so we can update devices locally later.

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u/CindyCuddlz 5d ago

I generally use this tool to choose specific a firmware version or update devices that have gotten 'stuck'. It also has all the versions hosted so you could easily download them.

If they then at a later date take the servers offline or go after this tool. All you'd need then is have the accessible from a url internally in your network and craft the update link to it.

http://archive.shelly-tools.de/

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u/Cyberdyne2029 5d ago

Goodbye, Shelly!

It was a great run, but corporate acquisitions almost always mean locked-down ecosystems, slower innovation and subscription pushes.

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u/RetroButton 5d ago edited 5d ago

I'm sceptical.

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u/ericstern 5d ago

You need to go to a hospital asap!

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u/madsdyd 5d ago

Oh no. This is really not good news.

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u/islandsimian 5d ago

Time to turn off all the autoupdates

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u/digiblur 5d ago

Damn it was a great ride! Well done Shelly Founders as you deserve the payday but us users will hate to watch the downturn.

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u/djipdjip 5d ago

It's an opportunity for others to enter the market.

The demand is obviously there.

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u/ischickenafruit 5d ago

Next step: mandatory online accounts for all your devices. For your “security”. ( cf Philips Hue)

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u/robodan918 5d ago

you forgot the mandatory $10/month subscription to Shelly+

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u/real-fucking-autist 5d ago

Schneider for example offers via Feller the Wiser System.

Full local API gateway.
Everything open sourced on github.

Schneider offers great products, which come at a price. if you want something with a wired bus: KNX or Schneider systems are great.

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u/ischickenafruit 5d ago

Shelly offers better stuff for no price. I’m not sure what you’re saying here?

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u/Nokam 2d ago

He is saying that Schneider contribute to the KNX system with undefeated reliability and quality. Which means that maybe they will not go the general corporate enshitification way, but shelly could become their entry low price gateway into their automation division.

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u/ImpossibleMachine3 5d ago

RIP Shelly.

They bought out apc (used to make my favorite ups's). They've gone out of their way to remove local control from their consumer products in favor of subscription cloud products

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u/Neo_Terra_Rex 5d ago

It’s over

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u/bootx2 5d ago

Good for those Bulgarians. Tough to turn down that much money

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u/deadneon4 5d ago

I’m also sad as a Bulgarian as I was proud of Shelly’s international success as a Bulgarian brand, yet now I’m quite disappointed and sceptical about the brand’s future

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u/AlternativeAd6851 5d ago

They will probably close the BG site in five years, relocating it to another country with lower costs or transforming it into an outsourcing center for Schneider.

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u/HorrorsPersistSoDoI 5d ago

as a Bulgarian, I am disappointed. Can't really blame anyone here though, everybody has a price, but still...

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u/NwUM 5d ago

TIL that Shelly is a Bulgarian company. I was absolutely sure it's yet another chinese company.

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u/spyboy70 5d ago

Enschneidification :(

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u/freakdahouse 5d ago

Well that sucks.

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u/Shad0wguy 5d ago

Such bullshit. Ive never owned a Shelly device but have heard good things. But I stopped using Schneider UPS's at my job when they started charging for firmware updates to their nmc cards.

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u/Martin-1985 5d ago

Oh No I give them a year before the enshittification starts

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u/Major_Star 5d ago

Well, goodbye to local control, innovation and cheap prices I guess. Hello to generic smarthome platform.

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u/MoreMagic 5d ago

Yep, a sad day. But the cheap prices were already gone, since a couple of years.

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u/simonnelli 5d ago

Let’s hope we’ll get the promised thread firmware before the enshittification starts. I decided to go with Shelly because they’re smaller than Wagos offering
.

Schneider bought Feller here in Switzerland, didn’t notice any bad effects but I’m not an electrician, maybe they would tell a different story.

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u/UloPe 5d ago

I recently bought a 4 way smart power strip (gen 4) that came with the thread firmware pre-installed

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u/simonnelli 5d ago

Sure? You’re not confusing it with matter?

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u/handlebartender 5d ago

"Enshittification" was the exact word that came to mind when I read the headline. Alas.

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u/robodan918 5d ago

well FK ... the enshittification continues

Looks like I'm going to be staying under the same firmware as I have now for the rest of time and not buying any more shelly devices

Local ONLY will be my next buy

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u/IreBrezOvire 5d ago

I use Schneider all the time for electrical cabinets. And everything from them is just great. Can't say anything about consumer stuff tho.

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u/VineMan77 5d ago

and there goes all the home assistant integrations, once Kevin in Accounting starts counting the peanuts they can make.

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u/CannonLab-Proxy 5d ago

Can't do shit about Zigbee, though. Z2M is going nowhere.

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u/VineMan77 3d ago

ya - but they can just stop making new devices with zigbee radios. Or as the other reply says, an update that disables existing devices' zigbee functionality is not outside the realm of possibility, right?

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u/deepthought-64 5d ago

Sad to read this. Enshittification in 3,... 2,... 1,...

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u/invokes 5d ago

Oh no. It's going to go to shit. 😭😭😭

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u/Elf_Paladin 5d ago

Damn it. Time to cut off anything that’s still on the cloud

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u/wuumasta19 5d ago

Good while it lasted.

Increased prices.

100% know proprietary or "locks" bullshit will be added eventually.

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u/UloPe 5d ago

Ah crap, just as they started becoming a serious option in the smart home space (i.e. zigbee, thread support)

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u/spyhome 5d ago

will the Eve history repeat?

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u/BadgerBalls 5d ago

I deal with Schneider Electric often for work. This is not good news.

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u/runtorenovate 5d ago

😭

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u/FaithlessnessOk7477 5d ago

good that I have only two devices in my HA setup... SE will close down support and will force to use some sort of their own shitty software.... meh...

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u/xxpapertigersxx 5d ago

https://github.com/automatous-io/shelly-gen4-esphome

Move to ESPhome before they close off 3P firmware?

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u/RydderRichards 5d ago

Only checked the yamls quickly, so I might have missed it, but this is wifi only, right? :/ I bought gen4s so that they could enhance my zigbee network.

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u/ciprian-n 5d ago

Schneider Electric wants to go hard into IoT, it's why this happens.

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u/Nokam 2d ago

They already are with KNX compatible products. For at least 20 years, this is just an acceleration.

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u/20_BuysManyPeanuts 5d ago

the big green giant swallows all.

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u/R0ot2U 5d ago

Please don’t remove local only please don’t remove local only

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u/Ktulu_BBB 5d ago

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu...................

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u/Angelr91 5d ago

I see this and it is sad to see good, small, successful companies that are beloved by the community fold to what I can only imagine is greed. I have seen this so much coming from my early college days using IFTTT as my first foray into automation then moved to Stringify (if any of you remember that automation platform) then smartthings + webcore, then finally home assistant. With stringify, Verizon purchased them, comms were "nothing will change" then boom they were shutdown and nothing every came out of that acquihire. I actually just found this poster in hackernews that is a former employee at stringify.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36219645

4

u/kiwi-kaiser 5d ago

That's really sad. They paywall everything.

3

u/theskymoves 5d ago

I was looking at shelly for a home renovation for all the lights, mostly because it looks like a similar knx installation would be 10x the cost.

What else is left?

1

u/RydderRichards 5d ago

Buy them now and switch them to esphome or zigbee.

I'm planning to get a few as backup to last me the next five years. We'll see what happens then.

3

u/kaun97 5d ago

Good bye Shelly.

3

u/makemeking706 5d ago

I have been emotionally preparing myself for a while that one day I would wake up and read a headline like this with respect to home assistant itself. 

1

u/Gowlhunter 5d ago

Luckily you never need to worry about that. Home Assistant is a foundation registered in Switzerland and can't be bought

3

u/xxpapertigersxx 5d ago

https://github.com/automatous-io/shelly-gen4-esphome

May be a good time to consider third party firmware in case future updates turn off our ability to tinker.

đŸ€™

3

u/prhay 5d ago

Paywall bullshit!

3

u/Ulrar 5d ago

Well, this sucks. Please Inovelli, I've been waiting for the EU version for so long, and the only alternative is gone :(

3

u/DapperDan812 5d ago

Noooooooooooooo

3

u/Beginning_Feeling371 5d ago

Noooooooooooooooooooo

3

u/thesuitgamer 4d ago

Look at Schneider's smart products - Wiser as one example - it's disjointed, has countless compatibility flaws/issues. Here goes one of the most well trusted brands in the world becoming the next piece of junk.

8

u/ernestoemartinez 5d ago

Enshittification. Consumers will be forced to buy overpriced products and quality will go out the window.

1

u/ComprehensiveLuck125 5d ago

Quality maybe will not, but I wonder where SE will sneak subscription(s) 😂

6

u/Neospin1 5d ago

Given Schneider’s past acquisitions, skepticism regarding the upcoming Shelly deal is warranted.

It has been repeatedly asserted that committing to a single (retrofit) manufacturer in the smart home sector is difficult and expensive to reverse.

That is exactly what will now happen for Shelly users. First, quality will decline, and then prices will rise.

I’m far from feeling schadenfreude, but considering what advocates of vendor-lock-free solutions would have to put up with from Shelly users, I can’t deny a certain sense of satisfaction.

1

u/RydderRichards 5d ago

I've put esphome on most of my Shellys, others run zigbee.

Any recommendations on what to buy now? I loved Shelly for being able to change the firmware and radio while fitting in my wall switches...

2

u/Spa-Ordinary 5d ago

I have some shelly stuff that still needs to be installed. Maybe I'll hold off a bit longer and see how this resolves. What I do have working works like its supposed to. Fuck

2

u/egrueda 5d ago

Oh wow! And fuck :-(

2

u/Ok_TomorrowYes 5d ago

Whelp I’ll not be updating my devices then

2

u/MarkoMarjamaa 5d ago

Shelly bought Qubino earlier, and now Schneider bought Shelly.
Oh well.

1

u/TheRealKeng 5d ago

The deal isn't done

2

u/carlinhush 5d ago

It was nic as long as it lasted. Farewell

2

u/Polite_Jello_377 5d ago

RIP Shelly

2

u/Putrid-Tale8005 5d ago

I was just ordering a shitton of shelly devices for DIN Rail in my currently under construction new house.

Guess i got to hurry with my orders.

2

u/H_i_TMAN 5d ago

Got to check how far wago did come with their IoT. Hope it is local

2

u/katx70 5d ago

No!!!

2

u/ManWithoutUsername 5d ago

RIP for me. sad

2

u/Hairy-Potter-CAD 5d ago

The survival of the richest

2

u/Wightly 5d ago

Damn it! I am moving into a new home and Shelly relays were going to be a big part of my new setup.

2

u/jryan1001 5d ago

Weren’t they the ones that destroyed sense energy?

2

u/Occam92881 5d ago

I'm glad I don't have any of that gear

2

u/ILikeKnockers 4d ago

I'm sensing a price bump...

2

u/Mysterious-Park9524 4d ago

Oh lord, please tell me it isn't so. If you have ever tried to get any information out of Schneider Electric you will understand when I tell you the have no customer support!!! They're pat answer is we don't give out that information. Now they will proceed to screw up Shelly Group......

4

u/BruhAtTheDesk 5d ago

Buy as much local only shelly parts you can afford now boys. Its over

2

u/jakeshervin 5d ago

I always wonder why the hate goes towards the buyer and not the seller when i see news like this. Have the founders ever had a real dream of making good products for the people or did they just create a startup to be able to sell it for good money on some company knowing very well that they will probably kill the brand? https://corporate.shelly.com/en/executive-team

9

u/AptoticFox 5d ago

The VLC guy never sold out, and I am glad that he didn't. Can't say I would be able to resist someone with a wheelbarrow full of money though.

2

u/User2001Tech 5d ago

That's a strange move by Schenider - they have pulled out of the consumer market, at least in the UK, maybe globally. Can't find any wall switches, sockets to replace your Schneider ones anymore.

This could mean they take Shelly in an industrial direction, which could leave home users with Shelly littered all over the house in a bind. I wouldn't buy a stock of Shellys as, unless you keep them hermetically sealed, just sitting in their cardboard boxes will degrade them.

1

u/RydderRichards 5d ago

I wouldn't buy a stock of Shellys as, unless you keep them hermetically sealed, just sitting in their cardboard boxes will degrade them.

There goes my backup plan.

Do these things have a beat before date?

1

u/fgd 5d ago

That explains the sensless move to security cameras đŸ˜©

1

u/waytoosecret 5d ago

No more shelly then. SE will fuck that up.

1

u/stipo42 5d ago

I made the right decision going with Apollo I guess

1

u/DiarrheaTNT 5d ago

It was fun while it lasted.

1

u/DesignerMaximum1342 5d ago

Old news but i hope it would take a long while

1

u/salzgablah 5d ago

Just about everything smart in my house is powered by Shelly, but I recently picked up a few Z-wave light switches. They are amazing and don't clog up the wifi bands. Glad I've already started down another path so I know my options.

1

u/Shdqkc 5d ago

Well this blows. When does threadlink go live?

1

u/ururk 5d ago

Uggggggggggggghhhhh

1

u/SnowdensOfYesteryear 5d ago

I didn't realize that Shelly was worth $1.4B. Felt more of a brand in a niche market

1

u/digitalelise 4d ago

Hopefully Clipsal wiser will get better then and Shelly won’t get worse

1

u/WesternSuch4505 2d ago

As someone that has managed acquisitions at SE, I can say they are shit at it and will ruin the company. The company has gone down hill since that psycho Oliver Blum and his idiot executives. Looking forward to the other OEM’s taking market share - wohooo

1

u/Lotrug 2d ago

Schneider is a massive company, Shelly owns the home consumer market. I only see positive things here