Orange, a major telecommunication firm in France, has announced new moves for the smart home market, including launching smart speaker, 5G and home security service, in 2019.
Orange, a major telecommunication firm in France, has announced new moves for the smart home market, including launching smart speaker, 5G and home security service, in 2019.
The CEOs of Orange and Deutsche Telekom, a major German telecommunication firm, announced joint plans to launch smart speakers - the Djingo by Orange and Magenta by Deutsche Telekom. Both devices are running on the same operating system and artificial intelligence technology, as the speakers are the collaboration between the two operators.
Orange plans to launch Djingo in France in early 2019 at a price of 49 euro (US$56), and eventually brings the speaker to all of its European markets, starting from Spain. Orange will position Djingo as a portal and controller for all of its connected home services and devices, such as the Orange TV set-top box. The speaker will also have Amazon Alexa built-in.
In terms of user data protection, Orange said it will store the voice data processed by Djingo and Magenta on European soil.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom didn’t reveal details regarding the Magenta release.
Orange’s other effort in the smart home market include linking Orange’s Connected Home devices with its ADSL wireless router and enabling consumers to manage them remotely. The Connected Home services use gadgets made by Orange itself and Philips Hue, Bosch and Netatmo.
Furthermore, the French telecom will launch Protected Home, a home security service through a partnership with Groupama. It will connect houses to a video surveillance center which will trigger call-outs and contact the law enforcement if required.
While some U.S. telecoms are trying to replace home internet with 5G in 2019, Orange announced plans to implement the technology in 17 European cities in France, Spain, Poland, Belgium and Romania, in 2019, and expect the commercial release in 2020.