We are waiting for Android for consumer electronics

Against the background of the development of mobile technologies, it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore lacunae that are not affected by progress. The electronics of everyday use is developed in three main ways: the path of gadgets - smartphones, computers, tablets, the path of household appliances - televisions, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and the automobile route - the on-board computer and all electronics tied to it. The role of the obvious "brake" is played by home appliances. If mobile phones, tablets and PCs are increasingly integrated with each other, then refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, etc. proudly keep a watch of autonomous devices - each with its own software, interface, rules. Gap approaches are growing, and it can not last too long.

Having survived the de facto mobile revolution, we are on the verge of a new breakthrough - namely, the entry of mobile technologies into other aspects of our life. However, a refrigerator with Internet access is still perceived by many as a joke - they say, why should we. When I googled the Android fridge, I found an article stating that this year Samsung introduced a fridge on Android. And in the same place - a replica that

Previously, LG, Electrolux, Whirlpool refrigerators with a similar smart filling were already presented, but so far such devices have not gained great popularity among consumers.

It is not difficult to understand why this is happening - the producers themselves offer it as a kind of entertaining nakhlobuchku, they say, my fridge shows how it’s fun, gygygy:

In particular, the developers showed the work of the Evernote application, which allows consumers to share photos, videos and recipes with family members or friends over the Internet.

Sharing photos through the fridge - yes, this is an incredibly useful solution. How did they just think of this? Why just share - maybe we’ll also take pictures on the fridge? The first place in the exhibition in the nomination "one more frustration that no one will buy" is provided.

As long as the “mobilization” of household appliances will be treated as entertainment, nothing will come of this idea. No one needs an entertaining refrigerator or an entertaining washing machine. The refrigerator should freeze, and the washer should be washed. For movies, games and facebook we already have tablets, phones and laptops. First of all, you need to understand that the interfaces and software of home electronics have already rested on the border of natural development and now they interfere more than help. Let's take a look at the usual washing machine from a new angle.
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Why Android washing machine

ON modern washing machines is a half dozen modes, tightly tied to the buttons and control tumblers. At the same time, behind loud marketing names, there are mostly primitive things like “we twist the drum in one direction a minute, in the other two”, because the principle of the washer for the last hundred years has generally remained the same, and all modes are reduced to combinations of rotation modes and water temperatures, including fashion modes like “washing sports shoes” or “children's clothes”. Technically, almost any modern machine can do it all, but in practice you go and buy a new one - not necessarily more expensive, but the fact that you need to change the hardware for a couple of new functions looks straining. In addition, the factory settings severely limit the consumer's capabilities — say, you cannot “rinse” the laundry twice after washing — for example, you can run the rinse mode manually several times.

The main problems of home appliance usability are thus reduced to the following list:

1. limited software / update features
2. the limitations of the interface, rigidly tied to a given set of functions
3. limited remote control

As you can see, all these problems are software and interface levels. Electolux, Bosch and Whirhpool can produce the best refrigerators, realizing all their accumulated experience, but they need a breakthrough in the field of interfaces. And for him everything is ready. In the mobile world, the first two problems were solved in due time by the iPhone thanks to iOS and the touch screen. The same recipes are suitable for consumer electronics. I have to say that the same Android is called the “mobile” axis only in terms of its application - in fact, its potential goes far beyond the scope of mobile phone software, and in the long term a funny green robot will be responsible for all the electronics in our homes, becoming a true home axis if Apple does not become the first again .

NB I’m writing about Android, because this is the most successful example of an OS running on hardware from different manufacturers. Apple does not put its software on other people's carriers, and therefore drops out of the race - unless they themselves start to produce household appliances. Another candidate is Microsoft, because Windows also works successfully on devices of any brand, and WinPhone has added OS release experience for non-standard devices. So the main candidates for software for home electronics I see it is Google and MS. Moreover, for small-scale ones this may be a good way out of the crisis.

Our homes will finally become smart.

In 2013, the “smart home” is the same fantasy as in 1993 - not because it is not feasible, but because it is expensive. To install and configure such systems, you have to invite special people , who then merge photos of your country house on the Internet . Given that the result will hardly be more than just good - not the most convenient interfaces, limited opportunities for customization and scaling, dependence on a limited number of firms providing the necessary services. The rapid progress of mobile axes and mobile iron provides mass, competition and ease of transition. In the case of highly specialized software - like the software of “smart homes” - all three factors are missing. Now imagine that you can go and buy a refrigerator, a washer, a kettle and a microwave in an ordinary hardware store, working, say, on Android (or iOS). In this case, the integration of household appliances will cease the work of the witch of expensive specialists - and the creation of a “smart home” will be reduced to downloading a couple of applications. It will become easier to manage everything - instead of one super-complex application for a smartphone designed to control all systems, you can install one for each gadget - yes, this word will become fully applicable even to an iron.

When already?

The Samsung experiments, which I wrote about above, will not lead to anything good as long as they try to attach Android to their most expensive devices. It seems to me that the logic of such marketing itself is doubtful - no one will buy a refrigerator for $ 5000 dollars for the sake of “Android”, which is associated exactly with the available devices. The demand for them is not at all in this segment. What I am writing about should lead not to a rise in price, but to cheaper equipment - due to the fact that the device upgrade will no longer require the purchase of a new one, and due to access to the resources of a huge developer community. Putting Android on the premium segment fridges is just as stupid as showing cartoons in the fridge - this idea will really shoot only in the mass segment, especially since the need is already quite ripe.

Someone will be the first: Google, Microsoft, maybe someone third. We wait?