Last year at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC 2017), Samsung combined SmartThings, Samsung Connect, and Artik into a single platform called SmartThings Cloud. The idea was to bring all of its IoT devices and services in a centralized ecosystem and let users control them from a single app. A year later, at SDC 2018, Samsung has announced a new set of tools and programs to take the SmartThings Cloud to the next level. Samsung also said that it has doubled up the number of SmartThings partners over the course of last year. SmartThings products are now available in 200 markets around the world.
Samsung launches SmartThings developer tools
At the ongoing SDC 2018 in San Francisco, Samsung announced three new developer tools and APIs – SmartThings Cloud Connector, SmartThings Device Kit and SmartThings Hub Connector. The new set of tools will “reimagine how connected technologies help simplify our lives through an open and intelligent SmartThings platform available for everyone,” Samsung says.
The SmartThings Device Kit, for instance, will make onboarding to Wi-Fi easier for developers. They don’t need their own cloud infrastructure but instead can use SmartThings Cloud at no additional fees.
Mobile technology was designed to seamlessly keep us connected no matter where we go. Today, we certainly have homes, cars, TVs, refrigerators, and a lot of other stuff with capabilities to remain connected. But not everything gets connected in the same way, or through the same app. Samsung wants to explore and develop an ecosystem that brings all these next-generation on to a single platform.
“SmartThings is a way to make our cities, homes, and cars smarter, and our lives easier. With a single cloud and a single app, we have created a truly integrated IoT experience,” said Jaeyeon Jung, vice president of engineering at Samsung.
From automating your home, to connecting your car, to automatically controlling your large appliances to reduce energy consumption, Samsung’s not only projecting SmartThings as a remote control, but also as a way of sustainable development.
Samsung has a vision of connecting all of its devices and appliances by 2020. While SmartThings Cloud will be the platform that connects the devices, Bixby will be Samsung’s smart assistant for seamless voice controlling of these devices. Samsung just opened up Bixby for third-party developers, and will probably announce more developments at a separate Bixby event the company has scheduled for November 20 in Seoul, South Korea.
