I actually can’t believe anybody would be stupid enough to think that Wi-Fi ever needed to be on a washing machine. That is literally a idea designed to milk extra money from sucker’s.
I worked for an industrial tool manufacturer for a couple years. It’s well known brand but not one you can just go to Home Depot and buy. Their tools are very specialized and very expensive.
Anyway, the last project I was on before I left was one where they tried to create smart tools. It wasn’t a completely bad idea. Those things have specific maintenance requirements. Reminding the user that it’s time for maintenance based on a cycle count, hour count, or severity of conditions was actually a good idea.
But, management wanted two things: Wireless charging, and the ability to feed data from the tool back to a dashboard that the user could log into. Then, they would charge a premium for the “smart tool” and get the customer to pay for access to the dashboard. At least that was the idea. The problem was that customers didn’t give a shit about either of those “features.” They just wanted their tools to work reliably. The division president refused to listen. I don’t know how it worked out. For unrelated reasons, I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.
Adding [unnecessary] electronics to tools and appliances is cheap. There’s some engineering costs involved but once that’s done, the components usually amount to a small fraction of the overall build cost. And the markup is insane, which is one reason why they add those “features”.
I suspect that there’s plenty of engineering teams out there questioning why a stove needs WiFi and then getting overridden by some SVP who has literally never used a stove in his entire life.
I actually can’t believe anybody would be stupid enough to think that Wi-Fi ever needed to be on a washing machine. That is literally a idea designed to milk extra money from sucker’s.
I mean… It’s not absolutely necessary? Yes.
It’s nice that it alerts you is finished specially taking into account it doesn’t always takes the same time and all that ? Yes
A beep or similar works too? Yes, but sometimes you are not near enough or similar and could be useful.
Or starting it remotely so when you reach home just finished or nearly and just arrive and hang the clothes.
I worked for an industrial tool manufacturer for a couple years. It’s well known brand but not one you can just go to Home Depot and buy. Their tools are very specialized and very expensive.
Anyway, the last project I was on before I left was one where they tried to create smart tools. It wasn’t a completely bad idea. Those things have specific maintenance requirements. Reminding the user that it’s time for maintenance based on a cycle count, hour count, or severity of conditions was actually a good idea.
But, management wanted two things: Wireless charging, and the ability to feed data from the tool back to a dashboard that the user could log into. Then, they would charge a premium for the “smart tool” and get the customer to pay for access to the dashboard. At least that was the idea. The problem was that customers didn’t give a shit about either of those “features.” They just wanted their tools to work reliably. The division president refused to listen. I don’t know how it worked out. For unrelated reasons, I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.
Adding [unnecessary] electronics to tools and appliances is cheap. There’s some engineering costs involved but once that’s done, the components usually amount to a small fraction of the overall build cost. And the markup is insane, which is one reason why they add those “features”.
I suspect that there’s plenty of engineering teams out there questioning why a stove needs WiFi and then getting overridden by some SVP who has literally never used a stove in his entire life.