Forget Smartphones, Samsung Wants To Dominate Your Whole House

Hear the name Samsung and you’re likely to think smartphones, flat screen televisions and—microwaves?

Well, not the latter, at least not yet. But Samsung’s CEO of Consumer Electronics, Boo-Keun Yoon, is out to change that.

Samsung’s high-tech cachet has surged over the last few years thanks to its iPhone-rivaling Galaxy smartphones and slick LED televisions that have dethroned Sony as king of the living room. Yoon is betting that the momentum and reputation of those products can translate across products into the more mundane world of refrigerators, ovens and vacuums (yes, vacuums).

But why would Samsung--currently in a bruising battle with Apple , HTC and  Google (to name a few) for dominance in the fast moving, high stakes world of phones and tablets--distract itself with home appliances? Yoon, who along with a translator, met with me at Samsung's temporary marketing space in New York’s Soho, tells me he has about 280 billion reasons why. That’s the size (in dollars) of the global home appliance market--Samsung wants to dominate it. And with 236,000 employees and  $188 billion in annual sales, it seems Samsung has enough muscle to make the appliance push without sidetracking innovation in its more cutting edge divisions.

There’s been much hype over the late-to-arrive Apple TV and Tim Cook’s mission to own the living room. For Yoon and Samsung, the living room isn’t enough, they want the whole house--especially when the U.S. housing market is getting firmer and China is caught in a fever (some say a soon-to-burst bubble) of home-building. The idea is if you have a Samsung T.V. hanging on the wall and a Galaxy 4S in your pocket, you'll want a Samsung dishwasher under your counter.

Yoon is trying to transfer the swift, innovative culture of Samsung’s T.V. and mobile divisions  to the slower-changing appliance world, focusing on consumer pain points to make leaps in design. For professional insight he’s partnered with top chefs like Michel Troisgros who will suggest ways to give ovens and ranges a functional boost. On top of design, Samsung is cramming wireless technology into products to let appliances talk to you, and someday, each other.

To an extent, that’s already happening. Today, you can control your Samsung T.V. with a Samsung smartphone. The latest Samsung WiFi-equipped washing machines come with an app that allows you to start a load while sitting in your office and will buzz your phone when your towels are dry. Other appliance will get similar functions soon. If Yoon has his way,  you’ll be able to preheat your oven, switch off a burner and defrost a steak without having to get off the couch or take your eyes off your Samsung flatscreen. Keep that up, and he might want to get into the treadmill market too.