Haier Debuts First Apple MFi Certified Smart Appliance

Haier, the Chinese appliance maker, announced today that it was one of the first companies in its field to receive MFi Certification from Apple's licensing program that certifies compatibility with iOS devices. The Haier Tianzun air conditioner is the first 'smart appliance' to receive the MFi certification, but the company does expect to expand to other product areas in the future.

It is reported that Haier is the first appliance enterprise that is authorized and certified by the MFi program and Haier's Tianzun air conditioner is the first appliance to be labeled with Apple MFi official certification logo.

The MFi Program is Apple's technology authorization program mainly for third party hardware products. As one of the world's most innovative high-tech brands, Apple Inc. has very strict testing standards and using requirements for the MFi Program and requires credible guarantees to provide to users in product design, product quality and product compatibility. Once authorized and certified, electronics manufacturers and design companies gain world-leading competitiveness in product innovation, quality and user experience.

The successful application of Apple's MFi official certification logo in the appliance industry will upgrade the user experience of Haier's smart appliances rapidly. An online survey showed that current users need to be professionals or people who know the technology to connect their smart appliances to the web, due to the complex setup and certification process, which tends to make the smart functions of smart appliances nothing but decorations. However, Apple's MFi can solve this problem and bring users a new smart experience.

Haier's Tianzun air conditioner is the first air conditioner and white good that is authorized by Apple's MFi program. Haier will use this technology in the other Haier products, such as water heaters, ovens, intelligent home accessories and the like. Users will be able to complete the setup simply by connecting to WiFi. The live demonstration showed that Haier's air conditioner could match the phone automatically and the user could set up parameters for the air conditioner directly without registration, setup password or any other complicated and time-consuming operations when connected to WiFi. And that brings consumers a simple, efficient experience of using smart appliances.

"It used to be complicated to control smart appliances, but it is very easy now. The operation is greatly simplified and all of us, including adults, children and the elderly, can use it as we want to," a merchant from India at the exhibition said. Haier used Apple's MFi technology successfully and thus created a simpler and more accurate intelligence appliance control experience for users. Users can use their phone, iPad or other mobile ports to control their smart appliances simply by pressing a key.

Along with this Smart Appliance by Haier, there were other MFi compatible devices unveiled at CES including many Game Controllers.


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