NEW DELHI : South Korean multinational Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd plans to set up four more state-of-the-art experience centres to showcase its end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to drive growth in its India business.

Samsung said such centres will help familiarize consumers with its solutions for smarter homes and, this in turn, will help boost sales. The experience centres are likely to come up in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

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

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

“We will launch four more such centres in other metro cities," Raju Pullan, senior vice-president, consumer electronics business, Samsung India, said in an interview.

He, however, did not share the investment details or the timeline for setting up these centres.

The Opera House’s experience zone displays all its existing IoT-enabled products, besides smartphones and wearable devices. Consumers can also experience virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based products.

That apart, consumers can pre-book the home theatre zone at the Opera House to watch movies.

The expansion of IoT experience centres is in line with Samsung’s overall strategy to develop an artificial intelligence-based ecosystem, including solutions for homes and workplaces. These experience zones will be later extended to the company-owned branded stores.

“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," Pullan said.

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





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