IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung), with its first event held in 1924, is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions held in Berlin, Germany. Over the years it has evolved into one of the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances and welcomes some of the largest technology brands including Sony, Acer, LG, Huawei, Lenovo, and Samsung, among others.
Nearly 250,000 people came through Samsung’s IFA exhibition, many of which engaged with their SmartThings-enabled Family Hub™ refrigerator, which keeps families and their home connected, and it’s exciting capabilities with Whisk. Read on to hear more about Whisk’s participation and founder Nick Holzherr’s thoughts and takeaways after attending Europe’s biggest tech show.
Whisk at Samsung Exhibition
At IFA 2019, Bixby voice assistant and Family Hub™ refrigerator integrations with Whisk were unveiled. The Open Food Platform is a fast and easy way for people to save all of their food-related data in one central place which they can access and engage with from several independent devices and touchpoints. For example, users can ask Bixby to add an item to their Whisk shopping list or view one of their previously saved recipes on their fridge.
Today, Whisk connects hundreds of millions of users to leading recipe publishers, grocery retailers, CPG brands, health companies, and IoT companies, and that’s only the beginning. This new marriage of Samsung’s hardware with Whisk’s advanced technology adds value to our partners and users and allows us to continue achieving our mission to build integrated, intelligent, and meaningful food experiences.
The Future Of Consumer Tech in the Kitchen: Key Takeaways and Trends
Several key insights emerged from the swarming hustle and bustle of IFA. When it came to new and emerging kitchen technologies, there was a particular rise in digitally connected kitchen hardware. More specifically:
- Voice assistance is now integrated into the majority of connected home and kitchen appliances, which will have a significant impact on how consumers interact with recipes, shopping lists, and more.
- Home appliance manufacturers are investing heavily in digital services for the home and kitchen in the areas of food and recipe inspiration, smart cooking solutions, and commerce integrations to replace consumables like household supplies and groceries.
- In the near future, there will be many different digital touch points across the home: in-kitchen displays, smart phones, and voice integration, and, in order to stay ahead, recipe publishers must be prepared to adapt their content. Well-structured content and licensing agreements will allow for seamless utilization of content across the connected kitchen and will prevent traditional recipe publishers from becoming obsolete.
- There has been significant headway in the progress to develop smart ovens that automatically convert recipe instructions, e.g. “Preheat oven to 375ºF while you chop the vegetables,” into device actions, e.g the oven automatically sets itself to bake at 375ºF. Further down the road, the next frontier will be ovens that can translate complex directions into more dynamic settings, e.g. “Bake at 425º for 15 mins, then decrease to 375º for remaining 30 mins,” based on recipes or preferences.
As for Whisk, we’ll continue to keep advancing our technology so that we can bring ever-increasing value and convenience to our partners and users, including those of Bixby and Family Hub. Keep an eye out.
Nick Holzherr + The Whisk Team
