The Hindu Business Line : Switch on your AC with a phone call!

WANT to "chill out" the moment you hit home? Now you can phone in and switch on your air-conditioner. Or do you want to swing to your favourite music as you cook? Nothing new, except that the source of the sound is your refrigerator.

This is not a scene from a digital home in the US, but of white goods in your own backyard. And if this isn't enough, there's a plethora of "niche" products, including refrigerators with messaging service, or ACs that clear the room of cigarette smoke, coming the consumers' way soon.

Explains Mr Salil Kapoor, Country Head (Air-Conditioners), LG Electronics India, "We have developed a range of products to address different niche areas of the market in order to grow faster than the market. This includes a range of air-conditioners targeted at children, which will be launched shortly."

The company, for instance, has rolled out an AC that can be activated and the temperature controlled by a telephone. "The AC is actually connected to the landline telephone. So suppose you are on the way home and want the AC to be turned on and pre-set to a certain temperature, you can simply call up your landline and access the AC with a password," says Mr Kapoor. The price? About Rs 23,000 for a 1.5-tonne, window AC. Though at a slight premium to an ordinary air-conditioner, there is a definite perceived value addition from the consumer's point of view. Similarly, to provide `value-addition' to its target audience, consisting primarily of women, Electrolux will roll out refrigerators with an in-built FM radio. The company is also planning to launch refrigerators that come with a messaging service or are Internet-enabled.

"These products make life easier for the consumer. In other words, we try to find solutions to real problems," Mr Rajeev Karwal, CEO and Managing Director of Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd, told Business Line earlier. The FM-enabled refrigerators come with a price tag of more than Rs 10,000 in the market.

Samsung India is also all set to roll out a wireless home theatre system, which uses bluetooth technology. The system has been priced at Rs 46,990. LG has gone a step further and will launch ACs for different living spaces. This includes designer ACs for children that come in varied colours with bright graphic designs and living room ACs that help clear the room of cigarette smoke.

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