Towards a Connected Future

Towards a Connected Future

Simplicity, innovation and an open ecosystem are the pillars on which Samsung builds solutions for a connected life, says Sunggy Koo, corporate Vice President, Head of Smart Appliances & Home IoT.

“SmartThings shall be the main catalyst to achieve our vision to provide the most advanced and valuable connected living experiences on the market.”, Sunggy Koo, Samsung Electronics Vice President, Head of Smart Appliances & Home IoT

What is the Samsung philosophy when it comes to the smart home and connected living area?

Samsung’s mission has always been that of creating high-end products and services, as well as of contributing to creating a better society. The same philosophy is guiding us in the smart home and connected living area, by which we try to give people better and better experiences, by combining all products and the latest technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and robotics.

What is Samsung’s position on this market and what do you set out to achieve in the years to come?

Samsung is in the unique position of providing a complete one-source solution of smart home products and technologies coupled with SmartThings, an open IoT ecosystem, compatible with the solutions of products by key partners in the industry. For instance, the SmartThings cloud solution provides assistance to over 10 million homes throughout no less than 100 countries around the world. In 2020, the SmartThings solution shall comprise over 45 million active users, whereas now it provides assistance to over 5,000 devices available on the market. We do not believe there is one dominant device or equipment in the Connected Living area. All products and devices are essential to connected living. SmartThings shall be the main catalyst to achieving our vision to provide the most advanced and valuable connected living experiences on the market. SmartThings gathers everything into one simple application and it provides the simplest way to use it.

Do you believe in cooperation and open standards for smart homes?

The next wave of innovations in the smart home area may be achieved solely thanks to our partners, assisting Samsung to bring these innovations to life. This is why we devised SmartThings, a truly open platform which thousands of other companies’ devices and applications can connect to. In order to achieve this, Samsung undertook to creating new tools allowing partners to easily integrate their products and services into our platform.

How much does Samsung invest in research and development in the IoT and smart home areas?

We invested USD 15.2 billion in R&D in 2018; a big part of these investments was directed to innovative technologies in the IoT, AI, AR, 5G and robotics areas, which are essential to making people’s lives better.

Are there any differences between the European and the Asian smart home concepts?

The European lifestyle may seem different from the one in Asia, as a result of the fact that the living environments are different, that homes look different, that food is different, as are legal regulations. Therefore, some of the Samsung connected living solution factors intended for Asian homes may be slightly different from those aimed at European ones. However, looking at the bigger picture, the basics are the same: IoT ecosystem and open platform, faster connectivity and smart home appliances.

How do you see the IoT market development in the next years? What will the 5G technology impact be?

The connected life and smart home concepts have undergone many changes as a result of the development of connectivity and telecommunications.  With the 5G technology and what comes next, enters zero latency hyperconnectivity, and I believe this will allow new services to emerge in the area of autonomous machines, of remote medical care and even digital “twins”.

What does the European smart home market look like?

According to research companies, the smart home penetration rate in Europe this year is around 19%, and it will reach 20% by 2023. We need more market data for a clearer picture, but we can already see a higher demand of connected living products in Europe, and we believe that this market entails huge opportunities.

Translated by https://www.traduce.re