LG acquires Dutch sensible dwelling agency Athom to beef up AI home based business

LG Electronics stated on Wednesday that it has acquired an 80% stake in Dutch sensible dwelling platform agency Athom, with the remaining 20% to be purchased within the subsequent three years.

The South Korean dwelling equipment maker stated it plans to combine Athom’s Homey platform which gives in depth connectivity that hyperlinks home equipment, sensors, and light-weight units, with its personal generative AI-enabled LG ThinQ platform.

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It will enable LG to realize “deeper insights” into clients’ way of life and utilization patterns that can, in flip, allow clients to create a customized atmosphere tailor-made to their preferences of their “AI houses”, it stated.

In line with LG, Athom gives its open sensible dwelling platform Homey that connects with dwelling home equipment and IoT units. Since launching in 2014, Homey has gained lots of of 1000’s of customers in Europe and additionally it is obtainable in North America, Singapore, and Australia, LG stated.

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Athom’s flagship service Homey Professional can join over 50,000 units, together with these from companions Philips Hue and Ikea, by way of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, and different wide selection of connection strategies, the South Korean dwelling equipment maker stated.

The Homey App Retailer additionally gives roughly a thousand apps based mostly on collaboration with different corporations and the Homey neighborhood that continues to develop the open platform, LG stated. This implies extra third-party units and companies can be built-in into LG’s dwelling equipment ecosystem, it stated, and it plans to proceed strategic investments into platform-based dwelling equipment options similar to webOS commercial platform and AI dwelling.

 LG gives all kinds of {hardware} we discover within the dwelling, from TVs, washing machines, fridges, and others. Since launching its webOS TV platform in 2021, it has been eager to capitalize on this extensive portfolio by connecting these units by way of software program for brand new income streams apart from strict {hardware} gross sales. Considered one of its newest pushes is free ad-supported streaming channels supplied on its TVs. 

The acquisition of Athom reveals that it additionally desires to find software-based enterprise fashions, by having the AI-enabled LG ThinQ platform hook up with extra units, in different home equipment by way of the chance offered by the latest AI increase.