“Indian consumers are now more than ever optimistic towards the idea of engaging with IoT enabled devices.”-Mr. Manish Misra, Chief Innovation Officer, Panasonic India.

Nisha Harshwal:-Tell us more about Miraie.

Mr. Manish Misra:-Panasonic has a longstanding commitment towards creating ‘A Better Life, A Better World’. Taking a step forward towards this vision, we have forayed into the Connected Living Solutions space with the launch of our IoT & AI-enabled platform – Miraie. With the literal meaning of the Miraie being ‘future home’ in Japanese, the platform is aimed at empowering the everyday lives of our consumers with comfort, convenience and seamless connectivity across all Panasonic appliances. The platform presently hosts India’s largest range of connected ACs, Smart Doorbells, and Smart Plugs & Switches. We will continue to expand the connected portfolio and add more products by the end of this year.

Conceptualized and developed at Panasonic’s India Innovation Centre, the solution features:

• In-built intelligent diagnosticsthat detect issues in advance maximizing performance and operational lifespan of products

• Leverages Google’s Voice Assistant and Amazon’s Alexatechnology to offer seamless and hands-free operations and control devices with voice commands

• Offers e-warrantywherein all warranty services and annual maintenance contracts are stored digitally for all products and consumers gets notified if there is a change in any status

• Advance recommendations build with our AI technology and customized sleep profiles

Nisha Harshwal:-How will Miraie work, tell us with an example of a usual day?

 Mr. Manish Misra:-Imagine its 4AM, you are starting to feel a little too cold, curling around your blanket and voila, your AC senses it and turns off without you lifting a finger. Your alarm goes up, lights switch on and while you’re trying get up from your bed, the TV switches on to your favourite music channel and your refrigerator has pre-ordered milk for your breakfast, even before you realized it’s over. You’re in the bathroom, the geyser switches on and warms the water for a quick shower, the washing machine is running a cycle and the doorbell rings… before you know, your doorbell opens the door because it is tuned to recognise the face of your regular guests. This and so much more, the possibilities with Miraie are endless!

Miraie has been designed to empower everyday lives of consumers through technology, it extends comfort, convenience and efficiency to consumers across all Panasonic appliances.

Nisha Harshwal:-Elaborate on the products under Miraie?

 Mr. Manish Misra:-We recently unveiled the first range of IoT products that will be available in the Indian market – Connected Air Conditioners, Smart Door Bell and Plugs, and Switches. Let us take an example of the AC here – besides just a simple on/ off functionality, our AC hosts unique feature – sleep profiling which allows users to set the room temperature for different parts of the night allowing uninterrupted sleep. If you are driving home on a hot summer afternoon, Miraie synced with your Google maps will send you a prompt to turn on your AC when you are 15 mins from home. Our Smart Plugs and Switches not only allow users to operate smart devices but also the conventional devices in this connected world. The smart Door Bell allows one to know who’s at the door even when not at home, ensuring safety and security for the family.  

The intuitive Miraie platform helps recognise usage patterns and suggests optimal modes extending the best comfort for consumers. It also offers features such as e-Warranty and AMC management, OneTouch-service request, proactive maintenance notifications among others.

Nisha Harshwal:-What is the role of Panasonic’s India Innovation Centre in developing Miraie?

 Mr. Manish Misra:-With the consumer insights that were derived from the survey and market analysis we did, Panasonic’s India Innovation Center developed and conceptualized Miraie and the range of connected ACs, Smart Doorbell and Smart plugs & switches. Spanning over 12 months from conceptualizing to developing and then launching, a team of 30 people were dedicated to bring this platform to life.

Panasonic’s IIC is not only the backbone of all innovation in the country and markets beyond, but also works towards development of business ideas from market research and industry trends, with a strong focus on Connectivity, Education, Healthcare, Smart factory Manufacturing – Industrial IoT 4.0 (to increase operational efficiencies) and Connected Homes/Lifestyle updates.

Nisha Harshwal:-What is the Brand’s AI and Market strategy for Miraie?

 Mr. Manish Misra:-Panasonic has always focused on developing products and solutions that have a great User Experience, are efficient and durable. In line with this we at Panasonic, have taken a step further by adding AI to provide consumers a holistic connected experience, giving our consumers a true sense of connected, comfortable and convenience living. Taking the connected AC as an example – Besides simple switch on and switch off feature on your mobile app, with Miraie one can:

• Set-up their custom sleep profiles for an uninterrupted sleep, intuitively managing several products in collaboration with each other thus providing a comfortable living solution

• Set switch on preference for your AC in advance. In case one forgets, Miraie sends the user a reminder once they are about to reach home with Google map synchronization

• Switch on the AC in advance based on location proximity

 With the growing ecosystem commanding the growth of smart homes, we are aligning our strategy with the way Indian consumers look into their homes. Our new range of smart appliances are aligned to the vision of the company – to make India future ready. Keeping this in mind, we are offering our IoT powered products at affordable prices. For example -Our connected AC is prices at the same cost as our conventional ACs and with Miraie the TCO (total cost of ownership) in terms of Durability, Efficient Performance over time, comes down.

Nisha Harshwal:-Do you think consumers are ready for an innovation like this?

Mr. Manish Misra:-Indian consumers are now more than ever optimistic towards the idea of engaging with IoT enabled devices. Our exclusive consumer insight study tells us that over 50% Indian consumers aspire to the idea of connected living with plans to purchase an IoT enabled product within the next 6 months with comfort, convenience and safety being the top reasons.  

Interestingly, we’ve also noticed that the consumers are ready to spend extra pennies for luxury, which makes it a huge opportunity for businesses like us to harp on and continue to invest in newer technologies like IoT, AI and ML. Indian consumers today seek enhanced product experience that can make daily life chores easier and efficient, and 81% are willing to pay a bit extra for connected features basis our study. The fast evolving demand for technologically advanced products mirrors the fact that Indian consumers are indeed welcoming the IoT powered devices to ease their lives.

Nisha Harshwal:-What are the future plans with Miraie?

 Mr. Manish Misra:-The pursuit of comfort and convenience has enabled us to work closely with our consumers and ensure seamless technological integration into our appliances thus making lives simpler. We have a lot to look forward to with Miraie wherein a perfect amalgamation of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Internet of Things will create a special relationship between Humans and Machines. s

In line with this, we plan to extend our IoT enabled product portfolio to include connected Washing Machines, TV, Refrigerator, Geyser, Fans among other devices and appliances in the near future. With Miraie, our aim to bring down the total cost of ownership as the platform sends users regular notifications for servicing requirements driving optimum output and efficient performance over time.

We expect this combination of price and technology will allow people to embrace the next generation of connected living by Panasonic.