With the continuous acceleration of the pace of life, more and more smart products have entered the homes of ordinary people. However, in fact, cumbersome and complex device connections and unstable network configurations cannot allow consumers to truly experience a convenient smart life, let alone humanized ecological integration.
On the morning of September 25, Midea and OPPO jointly announced the upgrade of their strategic partnership in Shenzhen, and the two sides will be committed to creating the ultimate experience of smart products for users, the scene experience of mutual integration and interoperability, and maximizing the value of bilateral users. Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, and Chen Mingyong, Founder and CEO of OPPO, attended the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation.
Midea Group and OPPO signed a strategic cooperation agreement
Since the "two comprehensive" strategies (comprehensive digitalization and comprehensive intelligence) have been proposed, the construction of Midea's smart home ecological "circle of friends" has accelerated. Hand in hand with OPPO this time, Midea's IoT ecosystem camp will add another "fierce general", and the cooperation between the two sides will also open up a greater space for smart home imagination.
The biggest highlight of this strategic cooperation is the automatic discovery and fast network matching function of Midea's smart home appliances and OPPO mobile phones. In the past, users needed to download the home appliance APP to complete the control and connection between the mobile phone and the smart device. While the steps are cumbersome, the connection may fail due to unstable network. But when you have both Midea smart home appliances and OPPO mobile phones, when you walk into the home, the OPPO ColorOS system can automatically scan and identify the surrounding Midea smart home appliances, and if you find unconnected devices, it will prompt users whether they need to connect and use them through system message push. Next, with just one tap, you can easily connect your mobile phone to the smart home appliances of the whole house. This kind of operation that can be quickly configured without downloading the APP not only greatly improves the user experience, but also can say BYE BYE~ with the long wait in the past.
In addition to connecting the whole house with one touch, through the deep connection with the OPPO ColorOS system, all Midea smart devices connected to the mobile phone can be remotely controlled using the OPPO Breeno voice function. "Lazy cancer" patients can also remotely start air conditioners, washing machines, rice cookers and other equipment while lying in bed, truly getting rid of space constraints and achieving zero burden on intelligent connection.
To be a smart home appliance brand that understands you better, in addition to basic smart device connection, you also need to understand the user's usage scenarios and needs. Therefore, the two sides jointly put forward the concept of "Midea + OPPO user circle culture" to be a brand that understands consumers better. In addition, in compliance with bilateral security and privacy regulations, a data BI platform will be built to open up the data of users, products, markets, sales and operations, so that bilateral brand users can enjoy ubiquitous and convenient services.
In the future, when users choose the "convenient service" function on the OPPO mobile phone, and the filter element of the Midea smart water purifier at home needs to be replaced, the mobile phone will automatically send a message to remind the user. Then, users can directly complete the complete link from the purchase of new filter cartridges to after-sales service on the OPPO mobile phone mall, realizing a closed loop of service.
Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, said: "Comprehensive digitalization and comprehensive intelligence are the current strategic focus of Midea. We need to make extensive use of digital technologies and smart connectivity and smart content to redefine the home appliances and products that have remained unchanged for decades, and to redefine the methods and business models that we have used for the past two or three decades. Next, we will work with OPPO to cooperate in ecosystem construction, user operation, user experience, development of domestic market channels, and development of overseas markets. ”
Fang Hongbo, chairman and president of Midea Group, shared on the spot
Chen Mingyong, Founder and CEO of OPPO, said: "The integration of all things is inseparable from the participation and co-creation of many partners. When we cooperate with our partners, we must achieve win-win results and mutual success. While vigorously developing and continuously launching some core scene products, OPPO must work together with partners to promote the development of the ecosystem of the integration of all things. ”
In the future, Midea Group and OPPO will cooperate in five major sectors: technology, experience, data, marketing, and channels, continuously deepen the integration and interconnection of online and offline ecological scenarios, improve customer service experience through multiple channels, and jointly promote the integrated development and innovation of digital intelligence technology, so as to bring more convenient, humanized and intelligent product experience to global users.
As early as July 2018, Midea and OPPO and seven other companies jointly established an IoT ecological alliance to cooperate on end-to-end multi-category smart product connectivity. In the past two years, Midea's full line of smart products have been successfully connected to the OPPO HeyThings IoT platform, covering 30+ home appliance categories and 1,000+ product models, reaching hundreds of millions of users. At present, Midea has become the home appliance brand with the largest number of access categories and the largest number of active users on the OPPO IoT platform.
Zhang Xiaoyi, Vice President and CIO of Midea Group and President of IoT, delivered a speech at the 2020 OPPO Developer Conference
In this strategic cooperation upgrade, the two parties will also jointly build the "Midea X OPPO Global Scene Joint Laboratory" online and offline, comprehensively layout the three major life scenes of kitchen, living and bathroom, as well as the two professional scenarios of air and water, enhance the adaptability of user needs and scene content, and optimize the product experience.
With the development of the domestic and international dual circulation pattern, Midea will also join hands with OPPO to deepen the overseas smart product market, especially in Southeast Asia, the two sides will join forces to create new market opportunities, establish close product connection and marketing interaction, and improve the bilateral global layout.
It is understood that in 2012, Midea started its digital transformation. In 2018, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, Midea Group put forward a new development vision of "perfect science and technology, perfect life". In March of that year, Midea also put forward the strategy of "new generation of man-machine". In October 2019, Midea announced the launch of the high-end brand COLMO, casting high-end quality home appliances with AI technology and promoting home appliances into the era of "humanized interaction". In 2020, Midea re-released the "two comprehensive" strategy to drive a new round of transformation. Zhang Xiaoyi said that Midea Group's goal is to let 100 million families enjoy the all-round experience of Midea's smart life by 2022.
Up to now, in addition to OPPO, Midea's IoT partner camp has included: Huawei, Tencent, Amazon, China Telecom, BYD, Himalaya, Oribo, Spire, etc. For example, on Huawei mobile phones, users can also quickly discover connectable Midea smart devices, and can quickly configure the network in 3 seconds with a single touch, without the need to download apps.
With the help of the huge smart home ecosystem, Midea implements the user experience into all aspects of the business value chain, continues to solve the pain points of smart home, and allows more smart home life scenarios to be widely implemented, so that "smart life that understands you" can enter thousands of households.
Overall, in the next round of smart home competition, Midea already has a first-mover advantage.
Reference source: National Business Daily