Last month in Berlin took place the biggest exhibition for consumer electronics and household appliances in Europe – IFA. Major companies from all over the world (with the notable exception of Apple) took part of the trade show by presenting their newest smart products: from mobile phones to security systems. The key theme of the event was Artificial Intelligence and the ways it can transform the home appliances industry, in particular through the implementation of voice recognition and control.
In the last year the amount of AI-based household appliances has increased dramatically, all integrating voice control either from Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, but the battle between these two tech giants in the smart appliance market is just beginning. On one hand there is Amazon, which basically invented the smart speaker category with Echo and since then has expanded enormously its application into a large range of appliances – from refrigerators to lighting systems. At IFA this year companies like Bose, Sony, Huawei and Toshiba introduced their new products, featuring Amazon’s Alexa. Miele, the leading German home appliance manufacturer, presented the Amazon Echo Show, a speaker that can control and monitor the company’s newest dishwasher, the G7000.
On the other hand, there is Google, which entered the market two years later by integrating Google assistant in smartphones and has since gained large awareness and customer recognition. Due to its rising popularity in the appliances industry, more and more companies are choosing to implement Google Assistant. For example, Electrolux has announced its plan to launch smart ovens with Google voice integration in the beginning of 2019. This will introduce a new kind of technology called “Hands-free cooking” that will facilitate main functions such as selecting the right cooking program and desired temperature.
Sources:
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180902000249
https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2018/09/05/ifa-2018-voice-control-spreads-through-the-home-with-smarter-speakers-vacuums-ovens-and-more/
https://b2b.ifa-berlin.com/Press/PressReleases/News_54643.html
https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/85354e2f-2007-41c6-b946-5a73784bc5f3/ifa-2018-alexa-devices-continue-expansion-into-new-categories-and-use-cases
https://www.electroluxgroup.com/en/electrolux-expands-smart-appliances-collaboration-with-google-26049/
