Monday February 5 2018 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM
shownews The ever-evolving smart home
If you’re a smart home enthusiast, there was a lot to see at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, saysMark Chapman
Home + Housewares Show. Some of the most creative products being
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offered by exhibitors were highlighted in this area, which demonstrated that there’s much more to the latest developments than adding an app to a product so you can switch it on while you’re at work. One of the key challenges for both
companies and consumers has been how to get different smart home devices to work together. One supplier which says it has solved one
part of that conundrum is Wink. The Wink Hub 2 allows you to control multiple devices from a single app and already works with established smart home names such as Nest, Phillips, Yale and Amazon Alexa. It was one of the standout
special pavilion featuring smart home and connected products made its debut at the International
innovations at the show, as it attempts to tackle some of the fundamental barriers to smart home going truly mainstream. Other products that caught my eye were a
Wifi-connected smart meat thermometer from Loki, which lets you monitor your oven or barbecue so you can enjoy your party and get notified when your food is cooked; and ranges of ‘smart’ heaters, fans and dehumidifiers from Crane, operated remotely via a mobile app. It was also good to see someone trying
to bring the smart home to the tabletop, with Smalt from Herb & Body serving up precise measures of salt, while adding mood lighting and acting as a Bluetooth speaker – the future of modern dining? Expect to see the Smart Home area of
the show grow over the next few years as more companies venture into this fast- growing sector.
Wink is a maker of a smart home technology platform that allows you to control multiple devices from a single app
•Mark Chapman is a director at PR Direct, which he joined in 2014 after working for over 20 years in sales distribution and music production. PR Direct is a PR agency aimed at supporting brands of any size to work effectively with trade and consumer media. His specialist area is working with the tech media, radio and TV. •
www.prdirect.net
What’s working in the world of smart home products?
At the Chicago show, a panel of experts discussed the challenges and opportunities that smart homes are bringing to the housewares industry “I’m looking for a compelling solution to a
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hat’s working in the world of smart home products, where are we going and what’s needed to
get there? These were just some of the questions addressed at a panel discussion held at the show entitled ‘How the smart home is disrupting housewares (and what to do about it)’. The panel was moderated by Mike Wolf,
founder of NextMarket Insights, a research and advisory firm focused on the connected home. He was joined by Chris Young, ceo of food and technology company ChefSteps; Carley Knobloch, technology and digital lifestyle expert and host of HGTV’s Smart Home; and Nathan Smith, founder and chief technology officer of Wink. The smart home trend is moving from the
early market to a state of greater maturation, said Mike, and “connected products so far have experienced varying degrees of success”. The panel agreed one of the most important
issues going forward is creating products that solve problems - not just using technology because it might seem like what people want.
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problem,” said Carley, wearing both her consumer hat and that of a digital lifestyle expert. “I’m looking for a company that has empathy for me. I don’t want connectivity for connectivity’s sake.” Paying attention to consumers’ ‘pain points’ is
important, as is helping alleviate any concerns about usability and security, she said. “Security is a major pain point, and energy efficiency is right up there.” Panelists agreed that story-telling is key
when communicating the value of a connected product over a traditional product, or when the product represents a brand new concept. “The advice I always give to companies (who
are looking to produce a connected product) is they have to become a content company first,” said Mike. “They can’t just put a product in a box and say, ‘Here it is’.” There are significant opportunities for retail
stores to tell the story of how a connected product can help solve consumers’ problems, but not many are doing so yet. “Retail is always a challenge with any new
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HousewaresLive.net
technology,” said Nathan, who later added, “The retail brands that are going to survive are going to create partnerships (to market and sell).” So what does the future hold? The group
agreed that systems with voice recognition such as Amazon’s Echo may be the wave of the future. Nathan also feels facial recognition technology shows some possibilities. At the end of the day, “It’s a wonderful thing
when technology can improve our lives,” said Carley. “But that can also be challenging to actually do.”
The Smart Home panel
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