Strategy in TECH...
Toshiba Corp. announced this week that it has launched a large consortium of more than 100 companies in Japan for the purpose of creating new services and products to attack and drive the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market. Consortium participants are companies of varying size and capabilities that cover the entire spectrum of the market.
Control4 announced today an all-new and improved operating system for Control4 installations that they call Smart Home OS 3. OS 3 is designed to be an easy unifier of the many devices in consumers’ installations, offer a robust infrastructure, give consumers choice & simplicity, maintain privacy, and – critical for integrators – enables professional support. It is their most tested and intuitive user experience that is as simple to use as a smartphone.
In another example of a practical application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, at CE Week last week the company B’z T showed a line of children’s clothing with hidden sensors that make your kids truly trackable – in fact they call them “Trackable Ts.” Offering a wide range of styles, colors, and designs, the company has already seen its products picked up by Amazon and other dealers, creating a bit of a buzz.
For the first time, because of a change in Google’s accounting, we get a look at the real financial numbers of Nest and analysts are truly surprised. It turns out, according to a report by Recode, that Nest is both smaller than many thought, and is losing a lot of money on an operating basis – so much so that it appears that any hope of profitability is far off in the future…if at all.
New research from Irdeto, a digital platform security firm, shows that a wide majority of consumers around the world are deeply concerned about the security of IoT (Internet of Things) devices. While the rollout of IoT devices continues to balloon, consumers are telling researchers that they are worried these devices are prone to destructive hacking.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced this week that at its upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2018 in Las Vegas, there will be a new area of focus on Smart City technologies. The group plans both a dedicated display space featuring the technologies of Smart Cities, as well as a full schedule of related conference programming.
Samsung Electronics has made another major investment in the Internet of Things (IoT) space, becoming an early stage Series A investor in Bayshore Networks. The company made the investment via its Samsung NEXT Venture fund, an investment fund created by the company to find and take positions in companies that are driving businesses that will yield future profits for the company.
Samsung announced late Wednesday that it has acquired Joyent, a relatively new start-up company that offers cloud computing services, according to a report by Recode. The specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but Joyent management has said it will be joining the Samsung management team.
Several announcements emerged this week from the Samsung Developer Conference being held in San Francisco – an event that has largely represented the launch of the first wave of Samsung’s assault on the Internet of Things (IoT) market. One announcement that caught our eye is the news that Samsung and Legrand have partnered on a new Thread-enabled lighting switch.
Korean media is reporting that Samsung Electronics has re-prioritized its product development plans – now setting its sights on the Internet-Of-Things (IoT) and drone product categories as its targeted growth categories. The company had also been considering pursuing 3D printing, but has put that initiative on the back-burner as it is believed to have a longer horizon to achieve profitability.
