The Wink Hub has been one of the most-liked options for smart homeowners. There’s just one problem: The company’s supply of products has been unavailable for several months. Digital Trends reached out to Wink to ask about its stock and ongoing support for its existing products, but the company has not responded.
Wink has a tumultuous history. The brand is the product of a partnership between startup company Quirky and electronics giant GE. When Quirky started to deal with some financial issues, Wink users suffered. At one point, the Wink Hub was unable to connect to the company’s servers and forced Quirky to recall the smart home devices. Quirky ended up going bankrupt in 2015 and sold off its assets to Flextronics, which then sold Wink to i.am Plus in 2017. i.am Plus, which is owned by entrepreneur and musician will.i.am, is a company primarily focused on wearable products but has kept Wink afloat as its own brand.
While the Wink brand has been kept alive by i.am Plus, the company’s products have adapted to the changing smartphone market. According to How-To Geek, Wink hasn’t announced a new product integration since September 2017. That’s a full year and a half without expanding the list of products it supports. Wink’s Hub has slowly become outdated and difficult to add the expanding number of smart home devices that have come to market in recent years.
While the Wink Hub has been stagnant in terms of products it supports, Wink’s stock of its own product has also been dwindling. The company’s website has listed most of its product as out of stock since November 2018, and attempts to purchase Wink devices from the company’s website returns a message of “temporarily unavailable.” Likewise, the product has been absent from third-party sellers including Amazon, Home Depot, and Walmart.
Wink hasn’t officially declared anything regarding its products. The company hasn’t announced that it is done selling the popular Hub, nor has it given any indication that the product will be back in stock soon. For current owners and those looking for a hub for their smart home, that is troubling.
