Do customers use the "smart" appliances currently on the market? "It's not all widespread," Whirlpool global director Chris Quatrochi admits at the Gigaom Structure Connect conference before telling about the issues the smart home industry faces.
"We’re a little bit of a hammer looking for a nail right now," Quatrochi continues. "Trying to understand exactly the value proposition that you provide to the consumer has been a little bit of a challenge."
Whirlpool offers a number of smart appliances, including a washing machine/dryer duo, a refrigerator and a dishwasher. All feature wifi connectivity and a mobile device (Android and iOS) app providing users with monitoring, notifications and remote control, so one can technically switch their fridge to energy-saving mode or turn on a particular dryer cycle from wherever they are. But do they sell? Whirlpool is tight lipped, as its sales figures fail to differ between its "smart" and "dumb" product offering.
"If you want consumers to make the technology or data you’re driving relevant, you have to have products they desire first and foremost,” Quatrochi admits. “It is at this point I’ll call it maybe a feature add. It’s not just an early adopter 1% technology.” In other words, having a "cool" feature is not enough-- one has to understand its benefits and, more crucially, convince customers of said benefits.
Such change is more difficult within the appliances market, as home owners tend to replace their washing machines and dryers far less often than any tablet or smartphone.
But despite such difficulties Whirlpool will continue stabbing at the smart home market. Quatrochi says the washers and dryers of the future will prod us about chores, tapping into calendars to remind of how the laundry is due. But the question on whether consumers will care remains. Maybe if such machines can sort between the reds and whites, or erase wrinkles, or even simply move loads from one machine to the next…