New smart home furniture powered by Internet of Things technology is the product of an unlikely partnership between South Korea's largest mobile carrier, SK Telecom, and South Korean furniture maker, Hyundai Livart.
It's the first service in South Korea to combine smart home technology with network-connected household goods. Called somewhat mundanely 'Smart Furniture,' the service provides Internet-based features for furniture, such as dressing tables and cabinet doors with built-in touchscreens.
Collaborating for ten months, Hyundai Livart designed furniture with network connectivity and touch screens, while SK Telecom developed a new service platform for Smart Furniture. Users can use the furniture pieces to browse the Internet, listen to the radio, and search for news or recipes, food prices and the weather, among other applications. Users can also make and receive calls from their furniture. Smartphone mirroring is also enabled.
Users can also link to door bells to monitor visitors, open doors and control room temperature from the screens, SK Telecom said.
Smart Furniture will be supplied to major South Korean construction companies in December and offered to consumers. Hyundai said it will add 10 more products that support Smart Furniture by February 2015.
The service is set to contribute 50 billion won ($46 million) in revenue to Hyundai by 2017.
"Our Smart Furniture will be among the first of our IoT services slated for launch in the coming years," said an SK Telecom spokesman.