Smart home: "Three stumbling blocks" waiting to be subdued

Wang Jian

[Enterprises with the strongest hardware in every subdivision can still have a chance.] For example, Gree air conditioner]

This year, the boom in smart homes has been heating up. October, Google's smart thermostat enterprise Nest acquired Intelligent Home Center control equipment start-up company Revolv, Millet release intelligent sockets, smart camera, such as four new smart terminals ... Chinese and foreign enterprises continue to compete to enter the smart home "Blue sea". Intelligent home, is to open the Internet, home appliances industry a new round of growth space.

Allwin Consulting (AVC) predicts that by 2020 China's intelligent household appliances will exceed the ecological value of 1 trillion yuan. The fund predicts that the domestic traditional definition of the wisdom of family industry scale, 2014 will reach 5.5 billion yuan, 2015 will increase to 7.5 billion yuan, and from system integration, hardware products to back-end services and other areas of the broad wisdom of the family industry, across the lighting, security, new intelligent terminals, audio-visual audiovisual, control system, Medical Electronics and many other industries, to 2015 industrial scale is expected to break through billions.

Early this year, Changhong, TCL, the United States, Haier, Konka and so on has taken turns to release intelligent strategy and intelligent new products. 2014 is also known as the year of smart home appliances. Behind, one is the domestic appliance market into the post-crisis period of stimulus policy era, to seek new growth point; the second is the early acquisition of Google Nest triggered the capital market for smart home concept of the Hot rod; third, the weak real estate market also needs new concepts to stimulate demand; four is the slow growth of PC Internet, mobile Internet, Home Internet boom.

However, lively and lively, smart home has not been implemented to the performance. The beginning of this year, the monthly release of a smart new changhong, a loss in the first three quarters; 10 years of Haier smart home business, the current total in the Haier Group's income accounted for a small; the United States, TCL and so on are still mainly rely on selling traditional household appliances to make money ... When will the "pancake" of smart home be landed on the wall?

The user experience, the purchase cost and the compatibility is poor, is lies in the intelligent home Road the three stumbling block.

At present, the intelligent home also lacks the killer application. Almost every new smart product requires users to download an app, from intelligent air conditioners, smart refrigerators, smart microwaves to smart air purifiers. Imagine, a user home has dozens of pieces of home appliances, all day to the dozens of app information, not tired? Now smart new, more just through the app, using mobile phones to remote control home appliances products. Some in the scene, voice remote control Half-day, air conditioning is not open, or directly with the remote control convenient and simple. Many manufacturers for intelligent and intelligent, packaging a new concept, so that products sell a high price.

Now on the market of smart home appliances, generally more expensive than the non-intelligent products. In fact, some products just add sensors. With the large number of applications of intelligent modules such as sensors, the price of new smart home products is expected to be more pro-people.

In order to find the killer application, the big giants have to build platforms, building ecological circle. This year, Apple announced the smart Home platform HomeKit, Philips, Branch Rui, Haier and other home appliances and lighting enterprises to join, Google acquisition Nest, and through the nest successively acquired two smart home enterprises, but also with the Pebble Intelligent Watch formation interaction; Haier released u+ Intelligent Home Operating system Alibaba's Aliyun, with Philips Purifier, Dahua video surveillance and other cooperation; Beijing East Plan future sales of all smart appliances, all installed Jingdong Smart app ... The competition of the platform of Intelligent home, the competition of standard is increasingly fierce, at the same time also fall into the dilemma of their own separatist, difficult to be compatible.

Allwin Consulting Assistant President Chuang that, although Cisco, Microsoft has already foreseen the smart home market potential, and on the standardized platform for more achievements. But in the mobile internet era, Google and Apple came from behind, respectively, based on the Android system and iOS system solutions to attract developers into the industry leader. And Japan and South Korea Enterprise smart home Appliances single product breakthrough, the system products are not outstanding. At present, the Foreign intelligent home field is based on Google, Apple led the "2+n" competition pattern.

Smart phones are smart home is a good control media, Apple, Samsung, Google and so on are willing to win the platform competition. But, as President Nest said: "Consumers will not pay for a system platform, they will buy a good product, a different from any other similar products, a good product, and then buy one, and then buy another." Companies to do those individual, great products, if you can make these products in 10-20 years to communicate with each other, the platform you want to achieve. ”

Therefore, in each subdivision of the field can be the most powerful hardware enterprises, there are still opportunities. For example, Gree air-conditioning, Hisense TV, Haier Refrigerator, the United States small household electrical appliances. Because consumers will not buy apple air-conditioning, Google fridge.

Open cooperation will be an inevitable trend of intelligent home. The future of the major companies will be a competing relationship, just as Haier launched the u+ platform, but also joined Apple's HomeKit and Google's Android system. Peng, deputy general manager of Yi Kang, said that the intellectualization of the promotion to a large extent through the form of alliances through the Cross-sectoral resources, the future of intelligent competition is likely to be a union and another alliance between the competition.

Only in this way can we realize the interconnection of objects and objects. Decision power from the user to the sensor, skip the phone instructions, through the sensor to send instructions to the hardware, to achieve a true wisdom of the family, so that users easily enjoy the wisdom of life. By then, the trillions of "pie" will naturally fall to the ground.