Panasonic smart home appliances: to go back to the kitchen, you need to be in the cloud

Osaka, Japan – Panasonic Corp. is expanding its line of “smart” home appliances and launching a new cloud service in Japan that allows remote control of a whole range of home appliances, from refrigerators and air conditioners to kitchen appliances and health and beauty appliances. The Panasonic Smart App, which will be available from the end of September this year, will allow owners of Android™ smartphones[1] to remotely control compatible home appliances, setting different programs for the devices and tracking energy savings.

This is not the first time Panasonic is using cloud technologies – in June 2012 they have already presented the microwave oven 3-Star Bistro and induction rice cooker, whose owners can select recipes and program settings and upload them to the kitchen appliances via Android-smartphones.

On September 25, Panasonic will unveil new home appliances in Japan that support control from mobile devices. These include X series air conditioners, the flagship NR-F557XV refrigerator, drum-type washing machines with built-in dryer NA-VX8200/NA-VT8200 , as well as health and beauty equipment – body analyzer EW-FA43, calorie counter EW-NK63 and tonometer EW-BW53. By the way, the new models of air conditioners can be controlled not only from Android smartphones, but also from mobile devices Apple iPhones^TM[2].

Panasonic’s “smart” appliances are designed to make users’ daily lives convenient, enjoyable, and, importantly, energy efficient. Using Panasonic Smart App, you can remotely control the home air conditioner[3] when you’re away from home , check the efficiency of your refrigerator, or turn on the washing machine by selecting the desired washing program.

The program will also help maintain health and beauty by allowing users to effectively manage body condition data – graphing weight changes, tracking calorie intake and energy expenditure on tasks. You will be able to check the correctness of the devices and troubleshoot problems by contacting the dedicated support service.

The free smartphone app will be available on the global Club Panasonic website[4]. To get started with the service, owners of “smart” devices simply need to register on the site. With cloud-based technology capabilities, Panasonic Smart App users can download the latest information – recipes, equipment settings and more – from the server at any time.

The availability of the new service and Panasonic smart home products in America will be announced.

[1] Android smartphones 2.3.3 or later versions supporting Osaifu-Keitai®FeliCa or NFC with some exceptions . When using Osaifu-Keitai function for the first time, initial settings are required on smartphones. The service cannot be used in areas with weak cell phone signals. More information about smartphones that can use this service is available at: //panasonic.jp/pss/qa/taiou_list.html.

[2] iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.

[3] A broadband router, wireless gateway CF-TC7, sold separately and wireless network adapter CF-TA9, sold separately are required for remote control of the air conditioner.

[4] Must install Panasonic’s exclusive Smart App. Downloading the app is charged according to the rates of your Internet service provider.