Popularity
The
popularity of smart-home has been increasing greatly in recent years due to
much higher affordability and simplicity through smartphone and tablet
connectivity. The concept of the “Internet of Things” has tied in closely with
the popularisation of home automation. I think 2014 is the year smart-home gets
serious. The whole idea of a ‘smart-home’ feels like a mythical concept people
have been talking about for years. We’ve been seeing a smattering of smart
appliances and other curios in recent years but it’s finally starting to feel
like 2014 could be the year all this talk turns into something more meaningful.
Here are some reasons why:
1.)
Rising
energy prices and improving technology intersect.
Just like how I said it above that a smart-home may provide improved energy efficiency, energy prices are soaring and that makes selling the idea of smart-home, particularly money-saving gadgets that can help save money by switching off appliances when the smart-home system detects that no one is in a particular room or at home that much easier.
Just like how I said it above that a smart-home may provide improved energy efficiency, energy prices are soaring and that makes selling the idea of smart-home, particularly money-saving gadgets that can help save money by switching off appliances when the smart-home system detects that no one is in a particular room or at home that much easier.
2.)
Huge
smartphone penetration makes it accessible to everyone.
As I have said above, the popularity of smart-home has been increasing greatly in recent years due to much higher simplicity through smartphone and tablet connectivity. There are smart-home systems on the market that uses mobile apps to track each household member’s smartphone location and acts accordingly, such as turning the air-conditioning down when everyone is out and turning it back on when it detects someone is nearing home. Again, it makes things more efficient, and accurate at the same time. This is a very simple and neat idea, but one that would never have been possible even three or four years ago. With smartphone penetration in developed countries now so high, such systems have far fewer barriers to entry than before.
If you have a smartphone then you can have home automation, and most households have one for every person (sometimes more).
As I have said above, the popularity of smart-home has been increasing greatly in recent years due to much higher simplicity through smartphone and tablet connectivity. There are smart-home systems on the market that uses mobile apps to track each household member’s smartphone location and acts accordingly, such as turning the air-conditioning down when everyone is out and turning it back on when it detects someone is nearing home. Again, it makes things more efficient, and accurate at the same time. This is a very simple and neat idea, but one that would never have been possible even three or four years ago. With smartphone penetration in developed countries now so high, such systems have far fewer barriers to entry than before.
If you have a smartphone then you can have home automation, and most households have one for every person (sometimes more).
3.)
Wearable
tech will open up new possibilities.
Wearable tech is everywhere at the various tech shows this year. There’s a smattering of smartwatches, a wee sprinkle of smart-eye-wears and dozens upon dozens of fitness trackers (at least in first-world countries). Next year will clearly be the year of smart pants…
Continuing this unedifying thought for a moment, one thing smartwatches and many other wearables would have in common with smart pants if they existed is they’re not very useful. So far the big idea on smartwatches is… smartphone notifications. I don’t need more notifications – they need to diminish, not be amplified. Fitness gadgets have a little more potential, but the whole area feels a little bit like a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
But smart-home has a lot of potential to change this. It’s clearly something Samsung has thought about given its smart-home initiative name checks its woeful smartwatch – who knows it could with something useful to do. I’ll get into Samsung’s role in all of this in a moment…
Thinking a little more broadly first, though, imagine what could be achieved with more intimate, sophisticated wearable tech? Why not control air-conditioning based not just on the ambient temperature, but on thee measured body temperature of occupants? Could wearable tech alert their users to fires when they’re sleeping (linking with something like a smoke alarm), or suggest what to eat based on blood sugar levels (linking into your smart fridge, of course)?
I’m just spit-balling here, but the more you think about it, the more interesting the possible combinations between home automation systems and wearable devices become.
Wearable tech is everywhere at the various tech shows this year. There’s a smattering of smartwatches, a wee sprinkle of smart-eye-wears and dozens upon dozens of fitness trackers (at least in first-world countries). Next year will clearly be the year of smart pants…
Continuing this unedifying thought for a moment, one thing smartwatches and many other wearables would have in common with smart pants if they existed is they’re not very useful. So far the big idea on smartwatches is… smartphone notifications. I don’t need more notifications – they need to diminish, not be amplified. Fitness gadgets have a little more potential, but the whole area feels a little bit like a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
But smart-home has a lot of potential to change this. It’s clearly something Samsung has thought about given its smart-home initiative name checks its woeful smartwatch – who knows it could with something useful to do. I’ll get into Samsung’s role in all of this in a moment…
Thinking a little more broadly first, though, imagine what could be achieved with more intimate, sophisticated wearable tech? Why not control air-conditioning based not just on the ambient temperature, but on thee measured body temperature of occupants? Could wearable tech alert their users to fires when they’re sleeping (linking with something like a smoke alarm), or suggest what to eat based on blood sugar levels (linking into your smart fridge, of course)?
I’m just spit-balling here, but the more you think about it, the more interesting the possible combinations between home automation systems and wearable devices become.
4.)
Samsung
can ‘complete the circle’ of connected devices.
And now we return to Samsung, which is the only company (with the possible exception of LG) that can claim to produce products in almost every important category across consumer and home electronics. It makes washing machines, laptops, fridges, mobile phones, smartwatches, microwave ovens, tablets… It makes a hell of a lot of stuff.
This puts it in the unique position of being able to create its own closed loop, a closed ecosystem much like Apple enjoys with iOS and Max OS. Apple shows that such a system can be very lucrative indeed, and Samsung has made a few moves to suggest it sees a future beyond its dependence on Android in mobile.
And now we return to Samsung, which is the only company (with the possible exception of LG) that can claim to produce products in almost every important category across consumer and home electronics. It makes washing machines, laptops, fridges, mobile phones, smartwatches, microwave ovens, tablets… It makes a hell of a lot of stuff.
This puts it in the unique position of being able to create its own closed loop, a closed ecosystem much like Apple enjoys with iOS and Max OS. Apple shows that such a system can be very lucrative indeed, and Samsung has made a few moves to suggest it sees a future beyond its dependence on Android in mobile.
5.)
Apple
MFi Certification is coming to home appliances.
Apple MFi is basically the program that results in the ubiquitous ‘Made for iPhone’ label. It’s an important mark for any product and Chinese brand Haier just became the first home appliance company to receive MFi Certification, in this case for an air-conditioner that could match the phone automatically and the user could set up parameters for the air-conditioner directly without registration, setup password or any other complicated and time-consuming operations when connected to WiFi.
Okay, so not exactly fully automatic and thus not truly smart, but is another small but important step towards a truly smart home as it isn’t exactly difficult to program the iPhone to work with wearables to achieve full automation. Haier also has plans to bring Apple MFi Certification to other products in its range, including ovens, water heaters and other “intelligent home accessories”. Samsung may hold an advantage within its own ecosystem, but clearly Apple can play in this arena as well.
Apple MFi is basically the program that results in the ubiquitous ‘Made for iPhone’ label. It’s an important mark for any product and Chinese brand Haier just became the first home appliance company to receive MFi Certification, in this case for an air-conditioner that could match the phone automatically and the user could set up parameters for the air-conditioner directly without registration, setup password or any other complicated and time-consuming operations when connected to WiFi.
Okay, so not exactly fully automatic and thus not truly smart, but is another small but important step towards a truly smart home as it isn’t exactly difficult to program the iPhone to work with wearables to achieve full automation. Haier also has plans to bring Apple MFi Certification to other products in its range, including ovens, water heaters and other “intelligent home accessories”. Samsung may hold an advantage within its own ecosystem, but clearly Apple can play in this arena as well.
6.)
Google
is interested, could an open standard follow?
There’s some title-tattle to suggest that Google is tentatively experimenting in smart-home. Google is just too savvy a company not to realise how smart-home could further cement its ‘irreplaceable’ status in many people’s lives.
Google could, feasibly, play some part in ensuring an open standard for all this automation is created. There exist some standards for interconnecting things like lighting, but the likelihood is that any existing standard doesn’t have the scope to deal with the complexity future systems could require.
Given Samsung is one of the few companies that could create a closed system, it’s vital that open systems evolve so that people can tap into all this potential.
There’s some title-tattle to suggest that Google is tentatively experimenting in smart-home. Google is just too savvy a company not to realise how smart-home could further cement its ‘irreplaceable’ status in many people’s lives.
Google could, feasibly, play some part in ensuring an open standard for all this automation is created. There exist some standards for interconnecting things like lighting, but the likelihood is that any existing standard doesn’t have the scope to deal with the complexity future systems could require.
Given Samsung is one of the few companies that could create a closed system, it’s vital that open systems evolve so that people can tap into all this potential.
