In recent weeks, the smart home virtual assistant landscape has witnessed a flurry of product refreshes and expansions from major players like Apple, Google, and Amazon. However, today’s announcement marks a significant development in this space – a new entrant, Josh.ai, is launching its own line of smart home products, starting with the Josh Nano.
A Luxury-Focused Approach
Josh.ai has been building a niche for itself by creating a smart assistant product designed to be professionally installed alongside other smart home devices. The company’s latest offering, the Josh Nano, embodies this approach, targeting a luxury home-focused audience. This sleek device is smaller than a half-dollar coin but boasts an impressive set of features.
Design and Features
The Josh Nano is a low-profile device that seamlessly integrates into its surroundings. Its bulkier components are embedded in the wall itself, while power-over-ethernet connectivity ensures smooth operation. The device eschews onboard speakers, instead opting for direct integration with users’ existing sound systems. This approach aligns with Josh.ai’s goal of creating a smart home experience that is both elegant and functional.
Compatibility and Partnerships
Josh Nano boasts compatibility with most major AV receiver manufacturers, ensuring seamless integration with popular audio setups. Additionally, the company has forged partnerships with companies like Sonos, further expanding its reach in the smart home market.
The Josh Core: Central Hub for Smart Home Interactions
Powering the Josh Nano is the Josh Core, a compact server that acts as a central hub for all interactions between smart home devices. This innovative design ensures local processing of user requests, minimizing external connections and maintaining a high level of control over data privacy.
The Business Model: Scaling with Flexibility
Josh.ai’s business model offers consumers flexibility in licensing its technology on an annual, five-year, or lifetime basis. Pricing varies depending on the size of the home, with ‘small’ rollouts classified as homes with fewer than 15 rooms. The average cost for users works out to be around $500 per room.
A Niche Opportunity
Major tech companies often design products for a broad audience, but startups like Josh.ai can capitalize on this by creating tailored solutions that cater to specific needs. In fact, the selling point for many of Josh.ai’s customers lies in the fact that they are not buying devices from Google, Amazon, or Apple and hard-wiring microphones that feed back to these companies inside their home.
Scaling Up: Commercial Opportunities
While 95% of Josh.ai’s business today focuses on residential installations, the company is now exploring commercial scenarios like conference rooms and elevators. This expansion into new markets presents a significant growth opportunity for the startup.
Conclusion
The launch of Josh Nano marks an exciting development in the smart home industry, offering consumers a more elegant and functional solution to their smart assistant needs. By focusing on luxury home-focused products and prioritizing local processing of user requests, Josh.ai is poised to disrupt the status quo and establish itself as a major player in this space.
About Josh.ai
Josh.ai is a startup that aims to provide an alternative to Alexa and other popular virtual assistants by offering a professionally installed smart assistant product. The company has raised $11 million to date and is now expanding its offerings with the launch of the Josh Nano.
