Samsung plans four IoT experience centres in India

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, a South Korean multinational company, plans to set up four more state-of-the-art experience centres in India to demonstrate its end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to contribute in the growth of its business in the country.

According to the company, such centres will provide solutions to the consumers for smarter homes and, this in return, will help improve sales of the company. These centres are most probably to be set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

The company first introduced its first mobile experience centre for the Indian market in Bengaluru in September 2018.

The Opera House off Brigade Road, which is a 33,000-sq. ft store is a standalone property, used during the British era to stage plays. This houses Samsung's largest mobile experience centre globally.

"We will launch four more such centres in other metro cities," Mr. Raju Pullan, Senior Vice-President, consumer electronics business, Samsung India, said in an interview.

However, no details of the investment or any timeline for setting up these centres were shared by the officials. 

All the existing IoT-enabled products, besides smartphones and wearable devices are displayed in the Opera House's experience zone. Consumers can also have an experience of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based products.

Apart of this, consumers can pre-book the home theatre zone at the Opera House to watch movies.

This expansion of IoT experience centres is sync with Samsung's complete strategy to develop an artificial intelligence-based ecosystem, consisting of solutions for homes and workplaces. These experience zones will be later extended to the company-owned branded stores.

Mr. Pullan further added, "Samsung Bixby is the platform that we are investing in India. The investments on Bixby have not only been in mobiles or TV, but also to make, for example, refrigerators smarter. Like the Family Hub (for) the fridge, the microwave and washing machine can also be connected to one ecosystem."

Samsung's Family Hub smart refrigerators are Bixby-enabled, a virtual assistant developed by Samsung. The fridge let the users to answer calls or access third-party apps from a Galaxy smartphone, and even help them find a nearby restaurants, share notes, pictures, videos and music by making use of the Family Board feature.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.