These are the best brands

Cologne Die-hard fans of the TV series “Simpsons” remember the episode in which the yellow-faced film family bought the “Ultrahouse 3000”: The robot house takes on annoying tasks such as cleaning, cooking or washing up and, above all, makes life a lot easier for housewife Marge. At least until the computer with the charming voice develops a life of its own, falls in love with Marge and tries to get rid of her husband Homer.

The episode of the cartoon series dates back to 2001 – and as futuristic as it looked back then, the automated home appears tangible today. From the heating to the music system to the refrigerator, tens of electrical devices can be connected to the Internet and controlled via an app.

Smart home applications are becoming more and more popular, manufacturers are positioning themselves. According to the Bitkom digital association, 41 percent of Germans use an intelligent device at home – the value is ten percentage points higher than two years ago.

Voice assistants like Siri or Alexa pave the way: “These assistants are something like door openers to bring smart homes to the masses,” says Florian Kirchbuchner, expert for smart homes at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics. More than half of those who use smart devices at home stated, according to Bitkom, that they also use voice commands.

A Yougov survey commissioned by Handelsblatt, in which around 1,300 brands were rated by consumers, also shows that smart small and large electrical appliances are trendy. Their providers performed very well across all industries: Miele came fourth in the overall ranking for “Brand of the Year” – only the games manufacturer Lego on one and Ravensburger on three and the drugstore chain dm in second place were more favored.

Siemens and Samsung are behind Miele and Bosch

Bosch follows in fifth place. Siemens and Samsung are just behind Miele and Bosch in the industry ranking. Using categories such as quality, price-performance ratio or willingness to recommend the Yougov market researchers have determined the index values ​​for popularity.

Of course, a device connected to the Internet does not make a smart home a long way off. The expert Kirchbuchner agrees: “Today the vacuum cleaner, where you can read the filling level of the bag in the app, is already being sold as smart,” he says.

But the support of consumers through increasingly independently operating devices, some of which are even allowed to order supplies, is an important means of building customer loyalty for manufacturers. The market for electrical appliances for home use is an example of how brand manufacturers want to win the hearts of customers.
The long-established company Miele from Gütersloh, like the Bosch and Siemens brands, which belong to the Munich-based BSH Group, is way ahead when it comes to smart home applications.

Miele says it already has around 700 networkable devices in its range. “More than half of the appliances we sell are network-capable, and the trend is rising,” says Peter Hübinger, who is responsible for smart homes and electronics development at Miele. The goal is ambitious: All Miele domestic appliances should be networkable and, above all, regularly brought up to date with the latest technical standards in terms of software and additional functions through updates.

A flagship at Miele is an oven that uses artificial intelligence (AI): a camera built into the oven detects whether there are vegetables or crumble cakes on the tray and selects the appropriate program. First, the algorithm recognizes 20 dishes, more will follow in updates. So far, the cooking assistance systems are only available in Great Britain and Denmark.

#LikeaBosch: Bosch relies on jokes for campaigns

Competitors are also experimenting with AI and working on smart technologies and products. Competitive pressure is inevitable, every brand tries to stand out. For example, Bosch is using a funny image campaign around the world with an associated hashtag that presents all the conveniences of the Internet of Things in an original way: those who live “#LikeaBosch” should be supported by household appliances in a healthy, comfortable and sustainable lifestyle.

Suppliers like Bosch insist on the sustainability aspect in their advertising, especially with regard to energy consumption. In the future, the dishwasher could use the calendar in the smartphone to determine whether it should start a quick short program or whether it is time for a slower, energy-saving program.

Smart thermostats can use the location function in the smartphone to recognize when the user is coming home – and then turn on the heating. “Our smart home system was created on the basis of user requests and is constantly being further developed in order to be able to meet them anew every day,” says Cammi Tran, spokeswoman for the smart home area at Bosch.

Fraunhofer smart home expert Florian Kirchbuchner points out any weaknesses that still exist in all positive aspects. Example tracking of the user, which can lead to misunderstandings: “If I only go home for a short time because I forgot something there and the heating is turned on during these five minutes, then that is a waste of energy,” he says.

However, work is currently being carried out on systems that circumvent such hurdles: “A really intelligent system then recognizes that my next appointment in the office will take place in five minutes in my calendar – and switches off the heating,” says Kirchbuchner. This can already be achieved in the near future.

Apple, Google and Amazon agree on a common standard

To this day, controlling devices from different suppliers is a certain annoyance for customers. It is still often dependent on the manufacturer which systems a product is compatible with. In the future, standards should prevent users from having to load another app onto their smartphone for each device of a different brand.

“So far we have had many different radio protocols. We now have to bring these together in such a way that we can network the systems with one another, ”says Kirchbuchner. This is already technically possible – in the past, however, the large tech companies in the USA in particular had resisted standardization. However, Apple, Google and Amazon have buried their rivalry for market leadership in the field of smart home applications to some extent and agreed on the common “Matter” standard in the summer.

Greater standardization could accelerate the spread of networkable devices. A lucrative field is opening up: also due to the cocooning trend in times of the corona pandemic, many people have invested more money in their homes. Smarthome researcher Kirchbuchner recognizes a high willingness to pay: “This is also a lot about quality of living, and because of a different relationship to work-life balance, the younger generation is basically prepared to spend more money on it.”

More: Apple in the lead, Tesla on the rise – these are the most valuable brands in the world