Consumers may now start controlling their home appliances through their mobile phones as firms start to make Premier Li Keqiang's "Internet Plus" strategy a reality.
Leading the drive is electronics giant TCL Corporation whose strategy of transforming its operations is now taking the form of "Products plus Services" and "Intelligence plus Internet," China Daily reported.
"We have switched focus from product management to user management. We provide intelligent products and services using the Internet, big data and cloud computing," Liang Qichun, TCL's assistant president, said.
"We conduct big data analysis of user needs, behaviors and habits through the establishment of a user database to make personalized smart products," the TCL executive added.
Currently, the company offers its customers a wide range of products including set-top boxes, cell phones, IMAX home theaters, wearable gadgets and TVs. Its smart home system is regarded as a solution to "manage multi-terminals by using just one machine," the report noted.
To date, TCL has already established Guangzhou Huan Network Technology Co. Ltd., a smart TV platform, which links a total of 32 million smart terminals. It has also inked partnerships with other firms such as iQiyi.com and LeTV Holdings Co. Ltd. to innovate more home appliance technologies.
For Liang, "The Internet era gives [them] a good opportunity to beat competitors from Japan and South Korea."
"Our use of the Internet (in manufacturing and recycling) is just next to that of the U.S. We (manufacturers) should all combine traditional manufacturing industry, which has strengths in technology, channels and global expansion, with Internet to build up an innovative industrial eco-system," Liang added.
Other home appliance makers like Konka Group Co. Ltd. and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd. have also followed the footsteps of TCL.
In 2014, Changhong launched CHiQ products such as TVs, air conditioners and refrigerators. The Sichuan-based firm has also set up a big-data center and a cloud service platform.
Meanwhile, Konka has announced its plans to make its smart TVs capable of playing a number of contents such as games as well as shopping, health and educational videos. In 2014, Konka Group chairman Wu Siyuan said, "We make efforts to build Konka into a hardware company which knows the most about Internet."