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Panasonic Corp on Tuesday announced the significant expansion of its lineup of smart home appliances and the full-scale launch of cloud-based services in Japan dedicated to Panasonic’s home appliances ranging from white goods, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, to kitchen appliances and healthcare devices.
Dubbed Panasonic Smart App and available from late September, the application will allow users of compatible Panasonic home appliances to remotely operate their appliances, program settings and see the energy savings of each appliance by using Android smartphones.
Panasonic has already been providing the cloud services for owners of the latest models of its 3-Star Bistro steam microwave oven and induction heating (IH) steam rice cooker which were launched in June, enabling them to search for recipes and program cooking instructions using Android smartphones.
The new smart appliances which will be launched from Sept 25 in Japan will include Panasonic’s X Series room air conditioners, a top-mount refrigerator (NR-F557XV), drum-type washer-dryers (NA-VX8200/NA-VT8200), as well as healthcare products such as the EW-FA43 body composition monitor, the EW-NK63 calorie meter and EW-BW53 blood pressure monitor. The new air conditioners can also be operated with Apple’s iPhones as well as Android phones.
Via the Panasonic Smart App, users can control their air conditioners remotely from outside the home, check if the refrigerator is running efficiently, or set their preferred washing cycle using their smartphone. The new app also allows owners of the Panasonic healthcare products to create graphs tracking their weight and calories consumed by everyday activities among other things, making it easier to manage daily healthcare data. Furthermore, customer support such as checking device malfunctions will also be available.
The app will be available free of charge from the Club Panasonic website. By simply registering as a user of Panasonic smart appliances, users can enjoy the service. Because the Panasonic Smart App is a cloud service, users can download the most up-to-date information, such as recipes or device settings, from the server any time.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
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JonathanJo
"...owners ... tracking their calories consumed"... by sitting on their butts playing with their smartphone...? Er, not many. Perhaps Panasonic could reward users for using less electricity and exercising more, such as money off their next purchase of a Panasonic home-automation product.
ultradork
Saw this on the news last night – seems a gimmick which definitely some will fall for. Not really innovative or compelling at all. Some things should stay simple. Still wish that fridges here had water & ice dispensers built in to the doors like we do in the US but most are too small for that.
JA_Cruise
I could see this being handy if you forgot to turn off your A/C before leaving work, etc., but other than that, not much need for this function.
tokyokawasaki
Everyday whilst commuting on the train, I constantly think about my fridge and whether it is running efficiently...
At last, an app to solve my dilemma. Or is Panasonic just marketing a solution in search of a problem..
papigiulio
I think this might be the beginning of the future.
As JA_Cruise said an app that shows which appliances are running when you have left the house, is very handy. Especially leaving an AC on all day costs a lot of money.
Now we just need a fridge that can pass on info to the mobile app whether a product is finished or not while you're shopping. How great would that be. :)
JonathanJo
Home automation makes me think of Jaques Tati's film 'Mon Oncle'.
SenseNotSoCommon
Who says you have to be sitting on your butt playing with your smartphone? Just as notebook PCs contain all our work stuff, smartphones increasingly add value to our lifestyles. Mine tracks my BMI and bike rides, and has made so many heavy, fragile, battery-hungry appliances redundant.
Being able to switch on the AC or rice cooker remotely not only frees up your time, but may encourage those tempted to leave the AC on all day while out, to no longer do so.
The next logical steps are scanning groceries somewhere between supermarket shelf and fridge, so that the fridge can alert you to what you have left (and what's near its use-by date), suggest recipes, and remind you to buy x ingredient at the conbini on your way home, saving on wasted food, money and CO2.
globalwatcher
I hope Panasonic can catch up with an aggressive pace of Samsung marketing strategy here in US.
Please do not forget there is a huge market for medical device here in US. The market is wide open for Panasonic that is filled with engineering talent in technology. Panasonic needs to think everything outside of box for innovation.
Panasonic can look into medical market in heart defibulator, compact heart monitoring device, compact MRI, compact CPAP, compact oxygen device, compact medical generator and compact mucus removal device.... and I can list more.
Anyway, good luck to Panasonic.