Hello Olivier! Today we are launching with you a brand new section on LesAlexiens.fr, where we want to highlight the French Tech players who work every day in the world of the connected home and voice assistants. Can you quickly introduce us to Apynov, your company, and the Konyks brand at the heart of its development?
Hello, first of all thank you Alexians for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the community.
What was your background before creating this brand?
I was a Geek before the hour we can say, at 13 I sold my comic book collection to pay for an Oric microcomputer and it was time for programming. Later I worked for the democratization of micro-computing as a trainer, then a buyer for Conforama. It has always interested me to bring technology to everyone and that requires thinking about simplicity.
I continued my career as sales and marketing director at Fujitsu-Siemens, then Dell, Also, and finally I managed a subsidiary of Honeywell in security. I had wanted for a long time to create my box and, in 2016, I thought the time was right. I created the company Apynov, specialized in connected objects because it seemed to me that it was the future technological revolution.
You are therefore a connoisseur of market solutions…. How did you come up with the desire and especially the idea to create a French brand of connected objects?
J'aime anticipate use that we will be able to make technology and I have developed a certain sense of sorting out what is a gadget, and will quickly sleep in a drawer, and the useful object. On the other hand, I don't believe in gas factories, in multi-function products, which are supposed to do everything, but which do everything badly or are expensive and complicated. In general, Swiss Army Knives products are commercial failures, with the notable exception of the smartphone.
“Since I didn't find much, I decided to create my own brand. "
As for connected objects, as would say Idris Aberkhan, after having passed the stage of the ridiculous, then of the dangerous, they are starting to enter the “evidence” phase. When Google Home appeared in France in 2017, it seemed obvious to me that it was going to boost the Smart Home (connected home) as in the United States when Alexa appeared in 2014. So I looked for compatible products, and as I couldn't find much, I decided to create my own brand that would meet my criteria for acceptance by the general public:
- Simple: to install / use,
- Useful : provides a basic service but does it well,
- Cheap : most people are not prepared to spend more than $ 50 per device.
With your Konyks brand, your goal is to democratize the connected home… What differentiates Konyks from the many Chinese brands that are invading the marketplaces of the big names in e-commerce?
We do not hide that Konyks products are made in china, like 99% of electronic products but we bring many added values compared to products imported directly from China:
- The rigorous selection of products, based on design, simplicity, reliability
- Selection of factories, we audit each of the factories
- The translation of the application, we go over everything
- Adaptation to French habits (for example the outlet models, the type of weather operator to use, etc.)
- Simple, clear and colorful instructions (4 pages maximum it must be suitable for all products, otherwise the product is too complex)
- Support service in French
- Contribution to the French economy, since we pay our taxes, salaries and corporate tax in France.
You chose Tuya Smart, of which we are fervent users… Can you explain why to the Alexiens?
Yes, we tried different app and cloud solutions and finally settled on Tuya because it is the most reliable, the most robust solution. They manage billions of daily connections and the reactivity of the cloud is excellent (50 billion requests per day, 18 ms of latency, editor's note). Try it yourself when giving the order to light a socket the execution is almost instantaneous as the order circles the earth in the cloud. In addition, they have been audited and comply with the European GDPR standard for the protection of personal data.
Alexians are very sensitive and keep highlighting this famous “French Tech”, but what is it all about?
Le French Tech label simply means that we are a French startup working in the field of technological innovation. This just indicates that part of the added value is in France (in this case sales, marketing, technical support etc…).
What makes you different? How does Konyks bring added value to consumers?
We always try to bring the most satisfying user experience with the best value for money. In addition, we are specialists in this type of connected object, unlike most of our competitors for whom it is just one activity among others. As a result, we are more focused on product knowledge and the implementation of technical solutions.
Finally, since our goal is to reach as many people as possible, we are developing educational content (video tutorials, online tutorials, etc.). For example, we posted a tutorial on our site explaining how to link to IFTTT. Soon we will announce the posting of 3 new tutorials written by a recognized specialist in home automation in France.
We have extensively tested and approved, it must be said, several of your products, in particular the starter kit Konyks, the Antalya LED bulb, the Priska + socket and the famous Senso opening detector who unleashed the imagination of the Alexians… What does Konyks have in store for us in the coming months?
We are working on many new product projects, which will not all see the light of day because there must also be sufficient demand opposite. We recently announced the Priska Mini, taken in a very compact format.
The next products we are currently working on are:
- A camera with temperature sensor
- A siren that can be linked to the Senso or the Camini Camera
- New models of power strip
- One bulb with adjustable white
We are also in the process of exploring possible solutions to control its roller shutters ...
"I think we can say that voice assistants will become obvious"
It is indeed a more than recurring request among Alexians and more generally the users of voice assistants ... As a professional, what is your view on the future of the latter?
I think we can say that voice assistants will become obvious and will be integrated into many devices in the future (CF Free and Orange which will integrate Alexa, multiple enclosures with GH or Alexa integrated etc…). The voice assistant will therefore become essential and will be the first way to control devices at home, but not the only one because talking to Alexa is not always appropriate (during a lively discussion, while watching TV is not practical), and therefore I believe the future lies in hybrid equipment of products like Echo Dot combined with Echo Show see universal remote controls which remain to be invented.
Obviously, we fully agree with you in this vision… Thank you for giving us this interview which, we are sure, will not fail to fascinate our community. The Alexians wish you every success with Konyks, which we will be talking about again in the months and years to come. Goodbye!
Bonjour.
I will have a question about the connection via the Tuya Cloud. The interview suggests that Konyks devices connect to servers that are not European ("... the order went around the world in the cloud ..."), so probably Chinese, and that contradicts another of your article (as well as comments from people at Konyks) indicating that Konyks was using servers Amazon located in Europe (Ireland it seems to me) for their connections.
It's not bad their new take Priska Mini. Too bad he missed the check mark for the price which should have been € 19,90. Because at € 22,90, and for € 2 more, we have the Priska +, certainly more imposing, but with an On / Off button, energy consumption and 16A!
Goods.
At no time did we say that the Konyks servers were not located in Europe… On the contrary, as you noted in one of our previous articles, they are indeed in Germany at AWS. However, allAlexa are not in Europe, hence the idea of information transit which, I admit, is probably a bit exaggerated.
Anyway, rest easy, Tuya Smart well hosts the connected objects of its European customers in Germany at Amazon Web Services. You can also check it for yourself ... What we wanted to clarify, and which in my opinion is an undeniable guarantee of seriousness, is that they have recently been audited at their request and that their full compatibility with the GDPR is no longer in doubt. They have done a lot of work on the subject, in particular so that their Chinese origin does not call into question their seriousness on this point. To be honest, I believe that this topic is very close to their hearts and that the relentless attacks by Westerners on this matter pains them as much as they annoy them. Beware of our struggling lobbies, as they certainly can, but in a way that is not always very “Catholic”.
Regarding the price of the Priska Mini, of course, it may seem a bit high… We have not yet tested it, as you may have noticed, but being French entrepreneurs ourselves, we know how much it is. difficult to lower prices any more. It is about our survival, our existence. Chinese competition is fierce, and we are trying to maintain a minimum of employment in France, to create value there, to pay our taxes there. This comes at a price, and what Olivier explains very well in my humble opinion.
Thank you for your loyalty anyway… And stay connected, you might have the opportunity to win one of these takes very soon… 😉
Their Chinese origin doesn't bother me in any way, I just raised the absence of RGPD on the servers located in China. It would be the same if the servers were in Russia 😉 Some well-known competitors of Tuya Smart clearly indicates (but that nobody reads, unfortunately) that you accept that your data (wifi key, name, address, etc…) be used and resold to third parties.
I understand that French entrepreneurs are crushed by taxes and it's a shame, the state does not understand anything.
I have the impression that in both cases, the company loses. If the price is too low, the cash flow becomes insufficient with locking. If the price is too high, customers will buy elsewhere! So we come back to the same problem. The business is closing.
This is why it is vital to find the right price that is neither too low nor too high. And that is not won!
This is why even if I can find less expensive elsewhere, I try, within the limits of my means (which are quite modest) to favor a French product or "partly" French.
I wish Konyks and Apynov long life! (and the Alexians;))
Thank you for these encouragements and these debates
Some answers:
For the price of the Priska we are aware that 19,90 € would be better but with the delivery costs, the unit is not profitable. However, as many customers buy in batches, we have set up a promotion on Amazon with 13% reduction (less than € 20 per unit) for the purchase of 2 Priska mini or more. This promotion will be visible tomorrow
For data protection;
- personal data is stored by Tuya at AWS in Germany.
But the transactions (orders) circulate in the cloud on Tuya's servers, which may be in China or the United States, but these transactions do not contain any personal data.
Note: TUYA and KONYKS do not collect personal data. We only know of our customers an email address, we do not ask for personal information. Thus we have neither the name, nor the address, age, sex or other information on our customers,
I am still waiting for a phone call from a technician to pair a priska mini that does not work
Hi,
Unfortunately we cannot help you on this point, but it is still the holidays and no doubt that Konyks will answer you quickly… 🙂 Try Facebook. 😉