宜家也要做智能家居了

Ikea is formalizing what has recently become all too obvious: the company is making a major bet on smart home tech as a source of new revenue.

宜家正式公布了最近众所周知的一个消息：该公司在智能家居技术这一新的赚钱项目上押了大注。

To do this, Ikea announced that it will invest heavily in a new “Ikea Home smart” business unit with end-to-end responsibility for its burgeoning portfolio of smart devices.

宜家宣布为了实现这一目标将大力投资新的“宜家智能家居”业务部门，该部门负责快速发展的智能设备组合的端到端业务。

With access to 780 million shoppers who visit Ikea stores each year, the announcement also serves as a wake-up call to smart home incumbents like Google and Amazon.

每年有7.8亿消费者光顾宜家，这一公告对谷歌和亚马逊这样的智能家居企业敲响了警钟。

“We have decided to invest significantly in Home smart across Ikea to fast-forward the development. This is the biggest New Business we are establishing since the introduction of Children’s Ikea,” said Peter van der Poel, manager Ikea Range & Supply, aka, the box that sits above Ikea of Sweden within the complicated Ikea Group org chart.

宜家 Range & Supply在复杂的宜家集团组织结构图中地位高于瑞典宜家，其经理 Peter van der Poel说：“我们已经决定在宜家全范围大力投资智能家居以快速推动其发展。这是在儿童宜家推出以来我们正在建立的最大的新业务。”

The new business unit is helmed by the aptly-named Björn Block, and sits alongside Ikea of Sweden’s ten other business units that include Lighting, Livingroom & Workspace, Textiles, Kitchen and Dining, and Ikea Food.

这个新的业务部门由Björn Block负责，跟瑞典宜家包括Lighting、Livingroom & Workspace、Textiles、Kitchen and Dining和Ikea Food在内的其他10个业务部门一起办公。

Ikea’s smart home ambitions first became visible in 2015 with the introduction of tables and lamps that could wirelessly charge Qi-compatible phones.

2015年宜家首次提出智能家居目标，推出可以为Qi兼容手机无线充电的桌子和灯具。

In 2017, it expanded into affordable smart lighting, before partnering with Sonos for this month’s launch of relatively inexpensive whole-home audio.

2017年宜家将业务扩展到价格合理的智能照明，此后和Sonos合作于本月推出了相对廉价的全家音响。

Ikea’s first smart blinds will start sales in the US on October 1st. What’s next?

宜家第一个智能窗帘将于10月1日在美国开售。下一个会是什么呢？