Samsung Opens Device Compatibility to Other Platforms in IoT Move

A top Samsung official said the Korean manufacturer will configure more of its mobile devices and wearables to work on platforms of other suppliers.

Rory O’Neill, Samsung’s Europe marketing vice president, told the Wall Street Journal that starting with the vendor’s new Gear S2 smartwatch, which the company launched just prior to last week’s IFA show in Berlin, more of its products will be able to connect with devices from other platforms, such as Google’s Android operating platform.

The Gear S2 is the first Samsung smartwatch that can connect with Android-based smartphones. Previous models only worked with Samsung handsets and software. O’Neill, who said the vendor wants 90 percent of its devices to connect to other platforms within two years, didn’t say anything about an Apple iOS hook up for Samsung’s gear.

O’Neill suggested Samsung’s strategic change reflects the growing importance of inter-connectivity among various devices, particularly with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT).

“We found out that the European consumer has on average 19 connected devices at home,” ranging from smartphones and tablets to consumer appliances, O’Neill told the Journal.

Samsung will “have to be completely open,” he said, referring to the onslaught of connected devices the IoT is expected to bring in the next five years, with the smartphone, the staple of most companies’ mobile lineup, serving as a gateway to other connected things.

“We also need cross-industry collaboration, between tech firms, car makers and watch makers, not just inter-industry collaboration,” he said.

Samsung’s goal is to enable all of its devices to connect to one another by 2020, said O’Neill.

“We will see more of these products in the future,” O’Neill told the Journal.

Earlier this year, Samsung introduced a new IoT-centric processor platform named Artik developed at its Strategy and Innovation Center in Menlo Park, CA. The chip is designed to power all manner of connected devices, ranging from wearables to smart washing machines. Samsung intends to license the Artik chip to other IoT device and appliance manufacturers.