Samsung will finally enter the smart speaker market this year. The Galaxy Home Mini smart speaker is expected to lead a new push in the smart home market and be available in early 2020, Hyunsuk Kim, chief executive officer of Samsung’s consumer electronics division, told Bloomberg in an interview at CES.
He delivered Samsung's keynote address, entitled 'Age of Experience', at the event in Las Vegas. The focus was on "human-centric innovation that seamlessly combines hardware and software to create personalized experiences that make life more convenient, more enjoyable, and more meaningful", according to a Samsung statement.
The new speaker will be powered by Bixby, the voice-controlled digital assistant developed by Samsung. Kim acknowledged that Bixby has lagged in terms of interactivity compared to Apple's Siri or Amazon Alexa, but said the company is more focused on making Bixby and the accompanying speaker a means to controlling Samsung hardware, rather than a conversational device.
"Samsung will remain a hardware company, forever," said Kim, who is testing the Galaxy Home Mini at home, connecting it to 63 devices that include his curtains, lighting and third-party gadgets. Appliances linked to the Mini will be able to carry out orders such as scheduling when the dishwasher should run or making sure the washer’s rinse cycle is complete before the user gets home. It will work with both the Samsung SmartThings platform as well as third-party equipment.
To highlight its vision of human experience, Samsung also presented at CES Ballie, a small, rolling robot that can understand and support users, reacting to their needs with help around the house. In addition, the company gave the first demonstration of its Gait Enhancing & Motivating System (GEMS), which uses AR glasses to provide a virtual personal trainer, climb a mountain or walk underwater during a home workout, and then analyse the results for personal fitness recommendations.
