The owner of Rugby Fitted Kitchens, Trevor Scott, wonders if he’s missing something with all this talk of the connected home
Get connected! Be there or be square! I must be missing something? Because everyone seems to be banging on about connected appliances being the future and that the future is here, now.
But I’m just not seeing it. Am I alone?
Right from when AGA introduced the Total Control back in 2011/12, which you could turn on and off from your smartphone, through introducing Rako-controlled lighting systems in a couple of room sets and now displaying the latest Siemens Wi-Fi ovens with Home Connect, we have always endeavoured to embrace connectivity.
But not once has a consumer ever asked me: “Can I turn my oven on and off remotely?”
I would go further and say, when we are extolling the virtues of these ‘connected’ appliances, you can visibly see the consumers’ eyes rolling back in a ‘whatever…’ response to this overload of unnecessary tech.
“Will it cook my dinner any better?” often being the response. “There’s just more that can go wrong” is another.
Perhaps it’s a Midlands thing and once past Watford Gap we all turn into Luddites?
Maybe it’s generational, as most of our clients struggle to work their Sky+ boxes so a fridge that orders the makings of tomorrow’s dinner from Ocado is totally beyond them.
Who knows?
I think BSH is hedging its bets, though, as Neff, its best-selling brand in the UK, is conspicuous for the complete lack of connectivity in its range, apart from some hobs that talk to the extractors – which I do get the benefit of, as many people forget to turn the blooming things on anyway and then moan they don’t work very well.