A leading player in mobile internet device tablet technology is to pioneer the concept of tablets that allow home owners to monitor their energy usage, giving them real-time access to their electricity and gas consumption levels.
German energy supplier Ewe and consumer gadget firm Archos are to create a home energy monitoring system.
In the first half of 2010, Ewe will provide a smart meter combined with an Archos In Home Display (IHD) based on Archos’ Android-running internet tablet to all its customers.
“Ewe’s energy management experience together with Archos’ internet tablets result in a very appealing solution that will motivate subscribers to monitor and thus reduce their energy consumption”, says Henri Crohas, CEO and founder of Archos.
“We are glad to collaborate with Archos on our pioneering concept of energy monitoring. Archos is the right partner for us because of its innovative solutions and its long standing experience in mobile and connected displays”, explained Ludwig Kohnen, who is responsible for the product at Ewe.
The new energy monitoring system is called the Ewe Box, makes consumers’ energy use more transparent and enables consumers to find out all about their electricity and natural gas consumption in real time.
In September 2009, Archos released the first large screen (4,8’’) Android device, the Archos 5 internet tablet.
The company has made the technology available to third party companies who can easily develop their own user interface and applications thanks to the Google Android operating system.
Archos’ internet tablets offer an easy application development framework, fast internet browsing, enhanced multimedia capabilities, and an elegant design for an affordable price.
The combination of features makes them the ideal choice to support a broad range of applications, at home or on the go, including energy monitoring, home automation, professional applications, education and entertainment
ARCHOS introduced the hard-drive-based MP3 player with the Jukebox 6000 in 2000, and since that time has revolutionised consumer electronics devices.
The company introduced the portable video player in 2003 and was the first to bring TV recording, wireless and touch screens to the portable media player. In 2008, Archos introduced the first internet media tablets.
By John Kennedy
