Cold thinking behind the hot appearance of smart furniture

March 06, 2021

Smart home is no longer a new topic in China. However, in the near future, with Google's acquisition of smart home products manufacturer Nest, Tencent, Sina, Xiaomi and other Internet manufacturers, Haier, Changhong, Hisense, TCL and Midea and other traditional home appliance manufacturers entered the high-profile, smart home seems to be starting to heat up. For example, Midea said in early March that it will invest 15 billion yuan in research and development funds in smart homes in the next three years. Even some insiders said that 2014 will be the first year of China's smart home market. Another institution predicts that by 2015, the smart home market will reach 124 billion yuan.

The author of the above industry is really unwilling to agree. In fact, the status quo of smart homes has not made much breakthrough. The involvement of the above-mentioned many manufacturers only marks that the layout stage of the market has entered a new height. These large amounts of layout R&D investment require sufficient time to complete the market. Just as we Chinese people pay attention to cooking, the smart home market is also the same, and only when all conditions are ripe will it start. In the 3 or 5 years, I am afraid that it may not be enough. It will take about 10 years, and the overall market of smart homes may show substantial growth. Of course, during this period, new products will continue to enter the consumer's family.

The author believes that the so-called smart home era is the era when the Internet of Things enters the family. It refers not only to mobile phones, tablets, large and small home appliances, computers, private cars, but also to eating and drinking, sleeping, safe, healthy, making friends, and even furniture, and so on. Its purpose is to make people's family life more comfortable, simpler, more convenient and happier.

It is common for manufacturers to show off to the user such a scene: after getting up in the morning, the light will automatically light up, the TV or radio will automatically open, the curtains will be pulled up, the hot water will be automatically released in the bathtub, the milk will be heated, and the bread will be baked.

It seems very pleasant, but we must know that automation is not equal to intelligence. People are not machines, they are emotional, and their moods and feelings are different every day. If you want to be fully automated like the above, users may not like it. Therefore, intelligence should be automation + user choice.

Although there are many types of smart products, the smart home market seems to be a hot head. The manufacturer is very excited, but the consumer does not appreciate it. Let's analyze the reasons for this situation and the challenges faced by smart homes.

First of all, compared to the price, the use of simple, easy to operate is the most critical factor affecting the user's smart home experience. For example, among users who have purchased some or some smart home products, the proportion of smart features is very low. Mainly due to the troublesome operation process, the experience is not good. As a result, the smart product has become a display.

Under the premise of satisfying the real needs of users, manufacturers must overcome the drawbacks of functional fancy and complicated operation. Do not hold the attitude of educating consumers and think that smart home products are tall. To be like Apple's Joe, you can ask consumers not to think that consumers don't know what they want, but they must give consumers what they really like and want to buy.

For the current manufacturers to use mobile phones or tablets to control all the appliances in the home, Imagine how many people will do this? Most of the people will feel too much trouble just after the installation is fresh.

Therefore, in the future, the control of smart homes must be combined in a variety of ways, such as remote control, voice, and gestures. It must be taken into account that many users of smart homes are not high-tech masters, but also consider the elderly, children and patients.

Speaking of the intelligentization of smart home products, I think it is necessary to mention Edison, a pluggable microcomputer shaped like an SD card that Intel recently launched. The author has previously written that this is a great revolutionary technology. The great thing is that instead of plugging the device into a computer or hardwired with a computer, the computer is plugged directly into various devices of different sizes to enable intelligent networking. From the price point of view, Edison is tens of dollars, equivalent to RMB one or two hundred yuan, and buying ten or even dozens of Edison at home is also much cheaper than buying smart products. The most important thing is convenience and reliability. Large to TV, refrigerator, washing machine, small to cups and bottles, etc., just simple plug and play.

Secondly, although the price is not the most important factor, the huge upfront investment of the manufacturers will inevitably affect the price of smart home products. This determines that the initial users must be high-income families, far from the overall smart home of our ordinary family. There are a few smart appliances in the house that don't mean that you are living a smart home.

Also, as China's anti-corruption depth and intensity are increasing, the previous local governments have been arbitrarily encircling the situation, and the situation of government and commercial wealthy luxury housing has been greatly restricted, which will inevitably affect the smart home market.

Third, security. Smart home products must be connected to the Internet. If there is a problem with network security, family privacy may be exposed or exploited. The overall price of smart homes is tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of yuan, or even higher. At present, high-income families with smart homes are more likely to worry about family life being affected by unsafe factors.

Fourth, there is no unified national or industry standard for smart homes, which is another major obstacle to smart homes. Smart homes require all items to be connected on a single platform, and the importance of standards is highlighted.

Fifth, hardware is very important, and service is more critical. This is probably a major business model for smart homes in the future. The various data in family life needs to be collected, analyzed, processed, and most importantly used reasonably. Vendors need to consider the service of using data according to the real needs of different users.

Finally, I have to remind you that you should never fool users. If even smart home product developers are plagued with troublesome functions, users must vote with their feet. It is not only a hammer sale of a certain product, but also affects the recognition and acceptance of smart homes by consumers. This is a very serious issue related to the healthy development of the industry.

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