Amazon Key has been launched by Amazon, that allows customers to give access to their homes to delivery and service personnel through an electronic locking system.

The Amazon Key system includes a smart lock, an ‘Amazon Cloud Cam’ (an intelligent door security camera) and a smartphone app to run it all from.

The Amazon Key app allows the Prime customer to track their delivery in real-time. As the delivery / service person enters the house their can be viewed live by the customer, who can also review a video of the event after it has been done.

Amazon said in a statement earlier this week, “Amazon Key works with Same-Day, One-Day, Two-Day and Standard Shipping. Once set-up is complete, receiving in-home delivery is as simple as a click: customers select “in-home” while shopping and Amazon handles the rest. No passcodes, no fuss.”

The service is to start in 37 major US cities where Amazon Logistics itself handles the delivery, though more locations will be added reasonably rapidly.

At nearly $250 per unit, the service isn’t very cheap, though given the security implications and technology one will be getting a lot for one’s money.

Electronic home locks seem to be a late developer by comparison to car door lock and alarm systems. Equally, Amazon rolling the access-to-home system out live is far ahead of its logistics competitors such as DHL, who are experimenting with car in-boot delivery but have yet to go anything like live even so. Obviously, if the burglary rate increases substantially this could kill the system off altogether…

 
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