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Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Skyworth wants to bring artificial intelligence internet of things (AIoT) to the big-screen and create innovations in smart home technology.
Skyworth said the fusion of AI and IoT will allow its televisions to connect with other devices and interact with users.
At the "Racing to the Future" Spring Product Launch in Beijing on March 27, the company announced that it is making available its first AIoT ecosystem, Swaiot, in its Q80 series televisions and the hubs designed for it. It also introduced its smart assistant, TrensAI, to the TV brand.
Swaiot is an open big-screen AIoT ecosystem that connects Skyworth televisions as well as third-party smart devices. TrensAI has a proprietary AI voice recognition engine that understand users commands.
A proprietary patented technology, One-click Connect, allows Swaiot to resolve connection issues among smart devices connected to the hub.
The Q80 series TV is Skyworth’s first Swaiot big-screen AIoT hub and with it users can view, control, and manage household devices on one screen through distant voice interaction.
¥7 billion investment
Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Skyworth Digital Holdings Ltd. was founded in 1988 and manufactures consumer electronics, display devices, digital set-top boxes, security monitors, network communication, semiconductors, refrigerators, washing machines, cell phones, and LED lighting, etc.
Last year, the company said it has invested ¥7 billion (US$ 1.04 billion) in developing a hub for the smart industry and claimed that it has completed the set-up of smart living by integrating the brand’s smart home appliances with its proprietary AI chips.
The Swaiot ecosystem is expected to become the center of the big-screen AloT ecosystem to connect smart devices, the company said.
Moving forward, it said it will continue to develop a full range of home appliances in addition to AI TV to support holistic smart living, including a smart kitchen and bathroom system, smart refrigerator and laundry system, and smart lighting system, etc.
Riding the smart home wave
The Chinese TV brand appears headed in the right direction. Research firm IDC expects the global market for smart home devices to grow 26.9% year over year in 2019 to 832.7 million shipments.
Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, was quoted in the research report as saying that “2019 will be more about trying the various devices together to form a more cohesive experience and more importantly, layering in additional services."
IDC, however, said that the global smart home market will essentially be dominated by Amazon and Google, although Apple and Samsung's initiatives may also be worth watching.
Outside China, Skyworth may not be well known, though the group has operations worldwide, including other countries across Asia, as well as Africa, Europe and the United States. It is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
But for the 12 months between January 1 and December 31, 2018, Skyworth delivered overall turnover amounting to ¥39.271 billion (US$5.84 billion).
According to the financial report, the company generated double-digit growth in sales volume of TVs in mainland China and invested ¥1.688 billion (US$251 million) in the R&D of various high-quality smart products.
The group sold 15.316 million TVs worldwide, serving more than 36 million active smart TV viewers, with average daily active users exceeding 13.65 million, the report showed
