This author is on Twitter: @Patrickavenell
Malta
The opening speaker at the 2015 IFA Global Press Conference was Bernd Laudahn, the managing director of Philips in Germany. The Dutch company has been in a state of constant change over the past 24 months, bundling up major parts of its business and selling them off to licensees. Philips TVs are run out of TP Vision while the audio businesses was rolled into a wholly owned subsidiary, WOOX Innovations, and then sold to American company Gibson. These divestments have been caused by growing pressures on western European consumer electronics brands by the rise of Korean and Chinese rivals, which have much cheaper manufacturing costs.
The next change for Philips, as outlined by Laudahn, is to split Philips into two entities: Lighting Solutions and HealthTech.
Lighting Solutions will continue to innovate in Philips’ market leading illumination business but it is the HealthTech company that is most relevant for the appliance industry. This new half of Philips will continue to oversee product lines including Saeco coffee machines, electric toothbrushes and shavers and small benchtop appliances, as well as Philips’ longstanding B2B and B2C healthcare ranges.
In real world terms, Laudahn sees Philips appliance ranges as being concentrated on products that increase wellbeing in their users. Airfryers that allow you to cook without too much oil, air purifiers to improve in-home air quality and the Sonicare AirFloss Ultra, which Laudahn claims is as effective as manual flossing.
Unable to compete head-on with cheaper rivals in the bread and butter appliance sectors, Philips wants to target growth pockets with first to market and technology driven hardware, complemented with apps and smart technology, to create solutions. As an example of this, Laudahn revealed Philips has partnered with German insurance giant Allianz to develop innovative wellbeing appliances, the first of which is expected to be a back pain reliever.
This reliever is a pad that rests in a belt of white fabric as is wrapped around the the small of the back, a bit like a corset. It emits a flashing blue LED light which makes the user appear like a robot police officer, though this would presumably be covered with clothing. Laudahn said that after two weeks’ use, back pain will be relieved and the user will no longer be suffering extreme discomfort.
The 2015 IFA consumer electronics expo is being held in Berlin 4-9 September 2015.