British tea maker, PG Tips, and mobile operator, Orange, have teamed up to launch a mobile controlled kettle, according to New India Press.
The idea is that you can sms your kettle (the ReadyWhenUR) with the command “Switch on” and it err…switches on and boils – assuming you’ve remembered to fill it with water. Then when you get to the kitchen, the water is already boiling and ready to make your tea.
Apart from being a good joke present this Christmas for tea addicts everywhere, does this have any value? Not really, but it could be a sign of things to come.
In its current format, if you’re in the house anyway, it’s much simpler to simply go into the kitchen and turn the kettle on, than sms the command to the kettle. And if you’re out of the house – on your way home, for example – wouldn’t it be better to come home and check there’s enough water in it before starting?
However, I think we can expect to see the mobile increasingly used as the cliched “remote control for our lives” – opening garage doors and house doors, possibly controlling appliances and acting as virtual wallets. I doubt these commands will be via sms though, no matter how much the operators would like them to be. It’s much more likely to be by hot keys and/or RFID from both usability and cost of use angles.
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