2015 is the year of the explosion of smart hardware: starting from CES, will there be competition, reshuffle or tragic death?

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2015 has come so quickly, and the excitement in the smart hardware industry has not stopped, especially the 2015 CES Consumer Electronics Show in the United States which will open in 4 days, which will surely add fuel to this already hot market.

But looking back at 2014, a senior smart hardware practitioner gave me the evaluation of "chaos/disorder". Every entrepreneurial pioneer involved in this industry has experienced his own struggles, gains and insights. How will they evaluate the development of the smart hardware industry in 2014, and what thoughts will they have for 2015?

1. How do you evaluate the development of the smart hardware industry in 2014? Has it exploded? What impressed you the most?

2. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the development of the smart hardware industry in 2015? What do you think the development characteristics will be?

3. What new features will your smart hardware project have in 2015 and in which areas will it focus?

4. Will 2015CES become a breakthrough node for smart hardware? Why?

Highlights:

Liu Zongru: The explosion in 2015 is just around the corner. Voice semantic recognition/control and face recognition are coming soon, and artificial intelligence will also begin to emerge.

Liu Yi: In 2014, people all over the country were interested in smart hardware. Both large and small companies were interested in it. Large companies that traditionally did not make smart hardware were also interested in it. Small entrepreneurial companies sprang up like mushrooms after a rain, trying many directions, all wanting to seize this transformative future.

Qin Zheng: There will be several rounds of hardware reshuffles in 2015. This is inevitable and everyone should be prepared.

Xiaomi Huang Wang: With the release of Apple Watch, the wearable field will be extremely hot, but I hope everyone will not join in the crowd, as it will be really terrible.

Wang Wei: In 2014, the smart hardware market experienced a process of first cooling down and then heating up. Big companies built platforms, and small companies made products. It was very lively.

Shen Di: 2014 was the eve of the explosion. Our colleagues were very hardworking and quickly updated functions, forms, craftsmanship and prices.

Gu Dayu: 2015 is the explosion year for smart hardware, and the nuclear flash point of this explosion comes from the surge in interaction frequency.

Chen Hongqiang: What impressed me most in 2014 was the competition among peers. The fight between competitors had already started before the market took off.

Tao Jianhui: Due to funding issues, some startups will definitely close down in 2015.

Shao Guoguang: The year 2014 can be summed up in four words: It seems very lively on the surface, but only you know how it is.

BroadLink CEO Liu Zongru

1. 2014 was not an explosion, but it was clearly heating up. Various products emerged one after another, with many new and creative ideas. The layout of major platforms was also initially formed, and the competitive and cooperative relationship will exist for a long time. The most impressive smart home appliance industry has developed rapidly and has become an unstoppable trend.

2. 2015 is a promising year, a key year for development, and an explosion is just around the corner. Voice semantic recognition/control, face recognition are coming soon, and artificial intelligence will also begin to emerge.

3. We will focus on single products, make each product deeper, stronger, and continuously iterate. Based on the interconnection foundation laid in 2014, we will introduce deep intelligence, and the "self-service supermarket" from single products to the system will be fully completed.

4. In addition to our own booth at CES, we also have joint booths with several major partners. This year's CES will be the stage for smart hardware and smart home, which conforms to the trend of the Internet of Everything. When PCs, tablets, and mobile phones develop to today's stage, the speed will slow down. The next high-speed growth point must be IoT, another opportunity after the Internet and mobile Internet. The most down-to-earth and landing products must be those related to smart home and smart home appliances. 2014 is the first year of smart home and the preparation period for smart home appliances, and 2015 will usher in the climax of smart home appliances.

Liu Yi, Chairman of Jiuan Medical, Founder of iHealth

1. In 2014, people all over the country are engaged in smart hardware, big companies and small companies are engaged in it, big companies that traditionally do not make smart hardware are also engaged in it, and small start-up companies are springing up like mushrooms after rain, trying various directions, all wanting to seize this revolutionary future. However, we still haven't seen truly disruptive changes in these directions. Every industry still needs a Steve Jobs to define such smart hardware so that users can use it well, be willing to use it, and be willing to spread it.

What is impressive is that more and more people are working on it, the revolutionary ranks are growing, and the industry is moving forward step by step.

2. 2015 is a very promising year and will get better and better because there are so many teams and so much capital chasing and introducing new products. There will definitely be more useful and value-creating products in different fields and aspects.

3. iHealth's consistent idea is to use hardware as an entry point to attract enough users and provide services for these users. How to attract enough users and how to provide services for these users are our two most important directions.

4. iHealth participates in CES every year and has a large booth at CES; CES has become a global innovation exhibition. Due to the explosion of smart hardware, companies from all over the world also go to CES to compete in innovation and countermeasures for the future.

Whether there will be a boom in 2015 or not, it all depends on who has the right definition of a product, one that enables users to use the product well, use it correctly, and use it more frequently.

Ant Vision CEO Qin Zheng

1. The domestic hardware industry did explode in 2014. The thing that impressed me most was that it was so hot that venture capitalists came out to spread crisis theories to grab projects. It was very interesting.

2. There will be several rounds of hardware reshuffles in 2015. This is inevitable and everyone should be prepared.

3. In 2015, Ant Vision’s focus will be on content creation, while further rapidly iterating its hardware products.

4. CES is a good opportunity for international debut, but Chinese hardware companies should pay more attention to the domestic market.

Xiaomi Mi Band CEO Huang Wang

1. Smart hardware was just a warm-up exercise in 2014, and the official start is in 2015. It is useless to rush into it without understanding the real needs and pain points of users. The wearable field will be extremely hot with the release of Apple Watch, but I hope everyone will not join in the fun, which will be really tragic. In particular, some smart voice teams are planning to directly develop hardware and ROM, which is completely meaningless. I hope their investors will persuade them not to lead the team into a ditch.

2. There will be many surprises in the smart hardware industry in 2015, and many entrepreneurial teams will emerge. Products determine success or failure, and the fundamental competitiveness is still product-oriented.

3. The open secret is: Huami will obviously have a smart watch in 2015. Huami has gathered a large number of top talents from Silicon Valley, and formed three top teams in Hefei, Beijing and Silicon Valley for intelligent voice, big data analysis, machine learning, hardware supply chain, industrial design and interactive experience to create products with the most extreme experience. It will surely win a big lead like the Xiaomi bracelet.

4. At CES 2015, everyone is here to chat. It is a wonderful gathering of supply chain and partners. I hope everyone can gather industry strength, create the ultimate products, and win together with Huami in 2015. The products at the exhibition themselves will not have too many highlights.

Tuman CEO Wang Wei

1. In 2014, the smart hardware market experienced a process of first cooling down and then heating up. Big companies built platforms, and small companies built products. It was very lively. I understand that it was a collective explosion of entrepreneurs, but the market response was not that enthusiastic. The most impressive thing was the release of Apple Watch, which did a great job of keeping secrets.

2. I think that in 2015, smart hardware will be more rational, and there will be more and more products that capture users' pain points. I am firmly optimistic that Apple Watch will activate the wearable market, and wristbands will collectively weaken.

3. Tuman will make great efforts in the field of portable medical care, combining the most advanced sensor technology and making full use of the software and hardware platforms we have already built.

4. 2015CES will still be a big stage for smart hardware, which will accelerate the continued popularity of smart hardware and more company products will be exposed. Our company has no plan to participate in CES, but it is possible that we will cooperate with other companies' products.

Fineck CEO Shen Di

1. 2014 was the eve of the explosion. The friends were very diligent, and the functions, forms, processes and prices were all being refreshed quickly. What impressed me most was that although the business model was not yet mature, the VCs were very supportive! XXX got 10 million yuan, and XXX grew 8 times in four months... Haha, it's a good sign.

2. 2015 is promising. Prices have already reached the bottom line, but digging deeper into user needs will lead to great business.

3. In 2015, Fineck will take aesthetics as the main theme. Compared with data functions, currently only aesthetics will create user stickiness for 2 years or even longer.

4. As for CES2015, I will not go for the time being. I think smart hardware will explode in 2017, and the process of traditional business "crossing the chasm" is inevitable.

Maikai CEO Li Xiaoliang

1. 2014 was the year of single product explosion in the smart hardware industry. Various new smart hardware products were launched in this year, but almost all smart hardware did not explode in the mass market. Apple released Apple Watch, which left a deep impression on us, indicating that in 2015, technology giants will lead the development of the smart hardware industry and may bring about an explosion in the mass market. As a result, excellent entrepreneurial teams will benefit from it; while most smart hardware entrepreneurial teams with serious homogeneity will face a more intense market competition environment.

2. We are optimistic about the smart hardware industry in 2015, because 2015 may be the breakout year for smart hardware in the mass market, and sales volume may see a blowout growth.

3. Maikai will continue to strengthen the construction of its own product system in 2015, while deeply optimizing the supply chain.

4. CES will not become the explosion node of smart hardware because the general public is not aware of it.

Bong CEO Gu Dayu

1. In 2014, wearable devices have achieved basic market penetration, and smart home products and systems have also been improved. I firmly believe that the interaction between wearable devices and smart homes is the key to the explosion of the industry next year. Now these two factors have basically accumulated. What is impressive is that more and more entrepreneurial teams are working together to create a better experience for users.

2. Seriously optimistic. Judging from various data, 2015 is the year of explosion for smart hardware. The nuclear explosion point of this explosion comes from the surge in the frequency of interaction.

3. In 2015, Bong will focus on connectivity. In addition to releasing the open algorithm interface in early January, we will continue to focus on single products and interactions with smart homes.

4. I won’t participate and cannot judge.

uPlane CEO Chen Hongqiang

1. I personally think that the smart hardware industry is still in a stage where it is hot inside the circle but cold outside. It will take some time for ordinary consumers to accept it. In 2014, there were many more companies and entrepreneurial projects. It is not enough to say that there was a collective explosion. The real market explosion is an explosion. We have not seen products with huge shipments yet. The most profound impact is the fight between peers. The market has not yet taken off, but competitors have already started fighting.

2. The hardware market has always existed. It depends on how we do it. Whether it is smart or not is not the most important thing. The most important thing is whether it can meet the needs of consumers. I think practicality should be a direction, rather than just playing gimmicks and doing something so-called smart that is not actually smart.

3. Our uPlane will launch a new paint design. Currently, a camouflage pattern has been released. We will improve some design details, such as hiding the rudder leads inside the fuselage, so that the product looks better, cooler, and more durable. At the same time, we will release a new generation of ultra-micro fixed-wing drones that can fly autonomously and perform various stunts by sending commands through mobile phones.

In addition to the ultra-micro drone, we also have a new fast-charging mobile power bank that can be used for a whole day after charging for ten minutes. It is faster than all the fast chargers on the market, safer, more environmentally friendly, and has a long lifespan of 3,000+ charging cycles. This is a world-first product that we will also exhibit at CES and will also go on indiegogo overseas for crowdfunding.

4. We will participate in 2015CES, our booth is at Sands Level 2, booth number is 73772, welcome to visit. It is not known whether it will be a breakout point, this should be decided by the market.

WeCoach founder Chen Junyong

1. I think 2014 is an extraordinary year for smart hardware. Many products that will become indispensable in our lives in 3-5 years may be introduced to the public for the first time this year. Although there are no killer products for mass users, I believe it is only a matter of time. All categories of products will go through the transition from early adopters to mass users. 2014 will be the first year that smart hardware begins to cross the gap.

2. In 2015, smart hardware will further move towards the mass market, and more products will stand out from the niche geek group. Two types of products may usher in a breakthrough in volume: one is smart products that are marketable in appearance and extremely easy to use, with low user migration costs and easy to use; the second is products in vertical fields such as health and sports that can provide users with definite value rather than just smart concepts, including blood pressure monitors and motion capture devices that can provide guidance.

3. In 2015, WeCoach will take user experience to the extreme, so that exercisers can use the product more easily and comfortably. In addition, we will go further on the road of quantifying exercise and providing intelligent guidance. We believe that lighter and more effective intelligent products will definitely bring changes to the sports field. We will help offline private trainers free themselves from inefficient and tedious sparring affairs, so that they can focus on providing users with higher value-added service providers.

4. I think an exhibition will not change an industry. What can really make the market explode is more and more good products that can truly create value for users and are easy to use and provide a good experience.

Hip Hop Childhood CEO Wang Jisen

1. In 2014, the smart hardware industry was less impetuous and more stable, but it has not yet exploded. Everyone has begun to explore the practical value of products and has become more pragmatic. However, the public's acceptance of smart hardware is still not high, and the market needs to be further cultivated. The most impressive thing is that the Internet marketing of smart hardware products is getting better and better, and each company is investing more and more in this.

2. In fact, I am very optimistic about smart hardware in 2015. There should be more good products in 2015, and some hot spots are expected to emerge.

3. Hip Hop Bear will have functional upgrades in 2015, such as music and stories, intelligent English Q&A, and voice messaging will be integrated into WeChat, truly realizing WeChat voice messaging. Of course, more fun toys will also be launched.

4. I attended CES 2014, and my impression of it was mostly watches and bracelets. I guess there will be more types of products in 2015, but it won’t be a breakout.

Li Zhengzheng, CEO of Yishan Technology

1. There are too many delays. Mass production is the bottleneck. When judging a project, we should focus on the results. There is a long distance between R&D and mass production. Therefore, we should be pragmatic from the R&D stage and not waste our own and everyone else's time. If the product hasn't exploded yet, the most impressive thing is the delay.

2. The outlook for 2015 is promising. Regardless of demand, the industry will be positive and the industry chain will be driven. The characteristics are that there will be more ideal products, relatively mature old products will move faster, and supporting facilities will be more mature.

3. No comments.

4. CES may become a breakout node. It’s hot everywhere right now. Haha, I have a friend who is a judge for Dark Horse. The feedback he gave me is that many new students have joined in. It’s very popular. But I still hope that new students can keep a calm mind and be pragmatic when making products at different stages.

Idea Walk CEO Zhang Zhihua

1. In 2014, the development of the smart hardware industry was constrained by the bottleneck of technology and did not see any special highlights. Most of the good things were mature products that optimized the consumer experience in traditional industries, so the overall market did not explode. I think that in this industry, the chances of breakthroughs based on single-point products are small. We must think about the long-term development goals of the company. What we should strive for now is how to survive, accumulate strength, and build the core competitiveness of the team. I am impressed that more and more Fengxian Investment is interested in platform-type teams, and this is also the direction of Idea Walk's efforts.

2. The industry development will begin to explode in the second and third quarters of 2015, as more and more traditional industry giants will enter this field and the industry standards will become more mature.

3. The market positioning of idea walk is the entrance to foot data. We will turn walking into a fashionable and interesting thing, and in the second quarter we will cooperate with heavyweight celebrities to launch exclusive style smart shoes. In the second and third quarters, several leading domestic brands will launch idea inside market segment smart shoes. In the fourth quarter, we will launch LBS social products. Overall, idea walk will complete the infrastructure construction of the platform architecture in 2015. In addition, in terms of capital, we will complete a Pre-A round of financing in the first quarter, and expect to complete the A round in the third quarter.

4. CES in 2015 will guide the development direction of the smart hardware industry, but for the market, I think only individual products may have a chance of explosion. I don’t think it is likely to have an explosive impact on the entire industry.

Happy Mommy CEO Tao Jianhui

1. In 2014, smart hardware was booming and a large number of products emerged, but it is hard to say that it has exploded because the market size of smart hardware is still extremely limited and no strong brand has yet been formed.

2. There will be more new products in 2015, but since no startup has yet achieved a large scale, investment institutions will hesitate. Some startups will definitely close due to funding issues.

3. Happy Mommy will launch three new smart hardware products for mothers and babies in 2015, and hopes to create a mother and baby platform with health records as the core through these smart hardware products.

4. We currently have no plans to attend CES, but we believe that there will be many new products launched at the 2015 CES.

Dad, Where Are We Going? CEO Xiong Tingmei

1. 2014 was just a concept explosion. The market is just beginning to be cultivated and will explode in a few years. The explosion of concepts also promotes the industry. It is also a good thing to let more people know and try smart hardware.

2. 2015 is still promising. Bloody competition is still necessary, but more creative products will emerge. Everyone is worried that price competition will eventually lead to the situation of copycat mobile phones. In fact, this will not happen again. Consumers are also growing up, and the era of smart hardware and brands is coming at the same time.

3. We will gradually expand from the single product of utalife sports tracker to a series of product lines centered on children and strengthen brand building.

4. We will not attend CES. The 2015 exhibition will bring some new trends, but it should not be a key node.

Li Liping, CEO of Huaxin

1. The eve of the explosion of smart hardware.

2. Speculators will be eliminated starting in 2015. The overall outlook is positive because the trend is unstoppable.

3. Cooperation and win-win; grow together with users and third-party professional manufacturers.

4. Unfortunately, there are no booths. I believe CES is a good opportunity to show. But it is still far from a breakout. After all, there are too many speculators in the market, and we need to calm down and settle down.

Zhang Xiaowei, founder of DaQ Mobile

1. This year is the concept stage and infancy stage of the domestic smart hardware industry, characterized by "concepts outweigh practicality", "lots of money, mixed people, and rapid prosperity on the surface". There is no talk of an explosion in the smart hardware industry in the short term. In 2014, the industry produced fewer impressive products than in 2013. This year, a large amount of attention and resources have poured into the smart hardware industry, and product homogeneity is very serious. Once a concept comes out, multiple teams will quickly follow up, and they all do similar things. Unlike the "Tuman Smart Watch" or "Smart Health Scale" and other products in 2013, which made people feel refreshed.

2. I am very optimistic about the long-term development of the smart hardware industry, because everything should be intelligent in the future. This is an objective trend, but I am not optimistic about it at present. The current smart hardware industry has not yet had a clear direction. There are directions everywhere, and it is very difficult to predict which direction will come out first. I am optimistic about the direction of non-toy-type smart hardware products that have strong user demand and strong practicality: creative hardware with fantastic ideas, consumers have no obvious demand points, and the selling point is "not lethal". It is easy to see more but actually buy less, and the small market affects its commercialization. However, products like smart homes and smart bulbs are very practical, users have pain points, and have full needs. They are easy to use in practice and can maximize the number of users. The obstacle lies in "how to solve the transformation problem during use". If the smart bulb is easy to load and unload, it will be very commercially valuable, quickly commercialized, and stand out among many smart hardware.

3. We will innovate and explore new models based on our own mobile phone products: Da Q was born out of mobile e-commerce, and its biggest advantage is direct connection with users, deep insight into user needs, and the ability to provide a complete user service system from online to offline, from virtual to physical; in the new year, Da Q will establish an open smart hardware platform based on its own smart phone products, share user demand insights with the industry, seek hardware partners to jointly develop interesting smart hardware products, and share its existing resources with partners to jointly provide users with a more interesting smart mobile life experience.

4. The role of CES is to become a weather vane for smart hardware worldwide, but the outbreak cannot rely on a weather vane, but on the companies themselves and the market; smart hardware is closely integrated with life, and differences in living environment will have a great impact on the smart hardware market in various places; for example, food safety is currently a strong demand in China, which may be very different from the United States or other markets. Around food safety issues, a lot of related smart hardware demands will be generated in the country, nourishing a large market; China is a market that is not inferior to the United States, and Chinese teams have a great opportunity to make their own successful smart hardware products.

EHang CEO Xiong Yifang

1. 2014 is the eve of the explosion of the smart hardware industry. New technologies and new inspirations have brought about a large number of interesting and useful smart products. Whether it is smart home or wearable devices, they have become the focus of users' keen discussion and attention. However, we have to admit that most smart hardware products have a "chicken rib feeling" of high recognition rate but low actual usage rate, and are still far from changing human life. So I summarize the smart hardware circle in 2014: manufacturers are competing for the wind, products need to be constantly polished, users are waiting to try new things, and applications are waiting to be discovered and expanded. The real big explosion has not yet arrived. It is just a spark at present, but in the future, the wind is strong and the grass is fertile, it can set the prairie on fire.

What I feel most deeply is that in the smart hardware circle, in addition to products that make existing daily necessities smart, such as smart cups, smart watches, smart sockets, and smart TVs, there are also emerging smart hardware categories such as drones entering people's lives, bringing more freshness, different perspectives, and greater space for exploration. Every time I see our users exclaiming "WOW", I feel that we are doing the right thing.

2. 2015 is a key node in the development of the smart hardware industry, and I am very optimistic about it. I think that in the next year, under the leadership of giants such as Google, Apple, and BAT, participants will continue to emerge in the smart hardware industry, giving rise to more market segments, and products will become more diversified and refined, and the accompanying competition will become more intense. In addition, smart hardware will collect user experience and feedback through access to the Internet, and provide better services through big data analysis, which will be applied in various fields such as catering, travel, games, and social networking, thereby generating huge commercial value.

3. 2015 will be a critical year for Ehang to make rapid progress. In terms of products and technology, we will continue to focus on the mass consumer market, launch more drone products and functions, give full play to our unique advantages in combining software and hardware, and strive for diversification, popularization and socialization. In marketing and the market, we will have more flexible combinations and will work with more partners to expand the drone market.

4. Yes, 2015 is a critical year for the rapid development of the smart hardware industry. With the continuous influx of giants, it will definitely be the biggest focus of the 2015 CES and a battleground for major smart hardware manufacturers. It will present the development trend of the entire global smart hardware industry in 2015, just like an exciting movie trailer. Ehang will also play an important role in it, and I am looking forward to it.

Shao Guoguang, CEO of Youmei Technology

1. 2014 can be summarized in four words: it looks very lively on the surface, but the situation is not clear to the individual. As for the breaking point, I think it has not yet broken out. Whether it will break out in the future depends on whether Apple can detonate this market. The most impressive point is that big data is still a legend. For example, the Xiaomi wristband still charges 79 yuan for production, and big data has not yet been implemented.

3. The smart hardware market is promising in 2015, but the complicated situation will continue. But with the shipment of Apple smart watches in 2015, things will become clearer and clearer. Now several ecosystems have gradually formed their own camps. In the future, they will continue to be in a chaotic state, but things will get better and better. Omate will continue to build its own ecosystem. Currently, in addition to iOS and Android, Pebble has formed its own ecosystem. Omate is building its own ecosystem based on Bluetooth.

5. We will still attend CES 2015, with the main purpose of watching the show in the bottle. There will still be no particularly great products and news coming out of CES 2015, and players will continue to do their work because several ecosystems have not yet matured.

Ouyang Qin, founder of Suwei

1. 2014 is destined to be the first year of the development of smart hardware. For the smart hardware industry, the rapid influx of hot money has created explosive growth in the second half of the year, but in fact not much has been realized, so in the next three years, the industry will leap forward rapidly.

2. Wearable devices have become a major hot spot and highlight of smart devices, and smart homes are flourishing, and will face a new round of reshuffle in the future.

There is no doubt that smart devices will usher in a new round of explosive growth in 2015, gradually involving all walks of life, and will shake up industry traditions, change, and even subvert industry models. Wearable devices will usher in a brutal battle, and user experience is the key to success.

3. In the coming year, Suwei will continue to maintain its usual low-key style, develop in the form of "liberated areas", take user experience as the core, widely install smart food cabinets, and expand on the ground with the purpose of "improving the efficiency of the fast food industry and saving time for users". 2015 will be a milestone year for the Suwei project. As for the profit model, it will appear in a very natural form at the end of 2015. As an operator, we still have no plans and directions in this regard.

4. As a global technology event, it is inevitable that CES 2015 will become a grand stage for major global technology companies to showcase their strengths. It is foreseeable that this event will also become a competition for the strength of major manufacturers' "global debuts". The rapid development of smart hardware in 2014 has accumulated considerable energy for this event. CES is not only a node for the explosion of smart hardware, but will also lead the global smart hardware development into a new stage.

Zhou Zhibin, CEO of Panteng Technology

1. Smart hardware has made efforts in many directions in 2014, but both wearable devices and smart homes lack truly sticky products.

2. More and more voices indicate that 2015 will be a year where the true will be retained and the false will be eliminated, making it a year worth looking forward to.

3. In 2015, Panteng will work hard to improve air sensor products, increase cost-effectiveness, and further expand the market. At the same time, there will be one or two smart hardware terminal products planned.

4. No plans yet.