Smartphone Innovation Paves the Way at Ceatec 2012

Last week the largest electronic show in Japan, Ceatec, showcased a collection of new and slicker “smart products” which rely on smartphones to provide the intelligence.

Booths stood packed with the very latest in “smart products” such as cars that suggest that you should eat and fitness scales that tell you what not to. A growing number of these “smart products” now outsource their intelligence; processing, user interfaces, access to online services – to smartphones.

Nissan's self-parking car concept was also demonstrated at Ceatec; drivers rely on an Android phone to remotely monitor and control a vehicle. Furthermore, Panasonic showcased its smart appliance line which included refrigerators that upload how many times their doors have been opened and air conditioners that can be controlled from outside the home, again via a mobile app.

Smart vacuum cleaners, home security camera and personal thermometers were also featured, and they too rely on phones for control and access. According to an analyst at Gartner, Mark Raskino, tech companies have been aware for a long time that their products would evolve into this, and the widespread use of mobile handsets is finally providing the means to advance their technologies.

Raskino said, “ The Internet-of-things story has been around forever, and we've just been waiting for it to happen... The smartphone has become sort of the lingua franca of the general object, that gets past many of these issues.”

As companies bring new products to the market, they can avoid having to create user interfaces from scratch by leaving out some more pricey components. A Japanese firm whose strength lies in antennas and wireless signal processing gear, Maspro, showcased wireless security cameras as a completely new business venture, at last week's Ceatec.

Maspro's most recent camera can send images via smartphone to its owner, and users can sound an alarm remotely if they spot any suspicious occurrences. Shintaro Yano, part of the company's business development group, said, “ Everyone has a smartphone these days. We can offload a lot of the processing to these phones... People already know how to use smartphones, so our product is also easy to use.”

Additionally, various other firms have had to reduce their spending as smartphones weaken their products. Earlier this year, Clarion, a company which makes several lines of car navigation systems, launched a new model which depends upon the iPhone for many basic features, and the company also showcased an imminent Android version at Ceatec.

As these new models are far simpler and easier to install, they stand at a price of roughly AY=20,000 (US$260), around one-fifth of the traditional system.

A company spokesperson, Yasutaka Oda, stated, “ There is no need for navigation or GPS functions as they are already in the phone. These devices are more for interacting with phones, putting the apps on a larger screen, with speakers and voice interaction.”

By removing some functionality, it may be the case that smart products will now have a longer shell life, especially as they get upgraded each time a new handset is purchased by a user. Tadayuki Shonozaki, an analyst at MM Research Institute in Japan, noted, “Phone specifications will continue to get better, particularly in areas like the main processor.” The rapidly increasing rate of innovation in phones is currently outpacing that in other products.

As smartphones continue to “check in” after they have been sold, manufacturers will be provided with an abundance of new information and data about their users and products. Omrom Healthcare also showed-off their new gadgets at Ceatec, amongst which were thermometers, scales and sleep monitors which allowed users to check their vital signs. These all synced with phones and users can upload their health data to Omron's “WellnessLink” service.

Smart features are becoming more common too, and friction is therefore predicted to arise between businesses. In particular, electronics manufacturers like Omron, developers of the smartphone such as Samsung Electronics, map and software providers like Google, and network operators like the Japan-based NTT DoCoMo.

Toyota displayed their “Smart INSECT,” an Internet-savvy concept car which is able to trace a driver's habits and provide suggestions for destinations and restaurants; the Internet section provides a phone that sits on the dashboard. This would enable other players in the chain to access the data gathered through the company's innovations.

It is because of this that analysts like Gartner's Raskino suggest that consumer electronics which rely upon smartphones will only be a temporary phenomenon. Raskino said, “ The smartphone as the single point of control for everything is pragmatic at the moment... It is possible that the functionality gets reabsorbed back into the objects several years down the line.” (CY) Link