Samsung rolls out smart home service in Korea and US to let you control appliances with an app
Samsung took the wraps off its Smart Home service at CES in January this year, and today it is rolling out the service in Korea and the US. More countries will be added throughout the year.
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung outlined Smart Home at CES in January as a service intended to connect Samsung products with third-party services and devices. Its rollout in Korea and the US turns that plan into a live consumer offering, building on Korea's earlier smart-home adoption.
First-order effects
- Samsung appliance owners in Korea and the US gain app-based control through Smart Home, making the service a new software layer around Samsung's connected products.
- Samsung moves from a CES product outline to operating the service across two launch markets, with further country expansion planned for 2014.
Second-order effects
- Third-party product and service providers have a stronger incentive to support Samsung's Smart Home service, since the platform is available to consumers rather than merely announced.
- Other appliance makers face pressure to match app-based control and to decide whether their products should connect to Samsung's proposed third-party ecosystem.
Third-order effects
- If Samsung executes its planned expansion and third-party connections, competition in home appliances shifts further from standalone hardware features toward the software service that coordinates devices.
- The smart-home market is moving toward platform competition, where device makers seek to retain customer relationships through the controlling app and integrations.
The trend: Connected-appliance makers are turning smart-home control into a platform layer that can extend beyond their own hardware through third-party integrations.