Philips reinvents technology with simple designs

Hong Kong – At the Asia Pacific launch of Philips’ Simplicity Event here, chief marketing officer Andrea Ragnetti was asked how soon can the company make commercially available the advanced technology products displayed in this exhibition.

"Not in the near future," he said. "In fact, we’re not even talking about the future. We’re talking three to five years’ time."

Over that period, expect a number of new innovative products from Philips, the Netherlands-based industrial conglomerate and Europe’s biggest, to come out in the market.

A touch-and-voice activated digital photo album, a mirror that doubles as an electronic messaging board, a lampshade that adapts to any color, an ultra-violet ray powered water filter, or even laser beam-equipped drawing tools for that "virtual art" children and adults could dip into.

For the company who brought to the world technological breakthroughs like the compact cassette, laserdisc player and compact disc, the products in the pipeline magnify Philips’ efforts to, as Ragnetti puts it, "bring about the convergence of advanced technology into simple designs."

Since unveiling "Sense and Simplicity" as its new slogan in September 2004, Philips has made a defined shift towards simple, useful, yet innovative products, a wide range of which are already in the market.

An example is the Ambient Experience, where Philips transformed a hospital examination room into a hotel room-like space. As the patient enters an atmosphere he himself has chosen, he instantly feels at ease. A credit card-sized "mood token" controls projectors in the room that show images and lighting on the walls and ceiling in a theme chosen by the patient (cartoons for children, for example).

The rationale is that this reduces apprehension by giving patients some control over the experience and offering them something to focus on other than the less pleasant implications of undergoing an examination or scan.

The feedback from clinicians, it was found out, is that in providing a positive environment, there is a significant difference in the outcome for patients of all ages. Historically in the US, it has been normal procedure to sedate children before they undergo examinations such as MR scans. The Ambient Experience has proven to be so successful that many children no longer need sedation.

The first Ambient Experience radiology suite is in use at Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital near Chicago and uses Philips’ lighting and consumer electronics to create a more patient-friendly environment for people undergoing medical scans. The suite at the hospital’s children’s pavilion features a Philips Brilliance CT (computed tomography) scanner in a room with curved walls, creating a softer emotional environment.

At the Simplicity Event, where Philips is demonstrating a unique showcase of design concepts showing how simplicity could translate into groundbreaking products, among those featured are:

• Water Font – a system that not only filters, sterilizes, mineralizes and chills the water from source, its jug also enables anyone to mix in supplements for extra taste or nutrition.

• Chameleon – the shade of this apparently traditional floor-standing lamp can match any color ‘shown’ to it. Its integrated sensor scans the color you place before it, and the fabric of the lampshade replicates it precisely, while the actual lamp light remains white.

• Music Spectrum – a music system that enables people to create a musical mood from a whole spectrum of feelings. It consists of a single loudspeaker offering surround sound from any spot in the room and Music Control, a wireless interface enabling people to explore their mood intuitively through the music itself, rather than reading through menus and play lists.

• Drag & Draw – a set of digital drawing tools that enable toddlers – and older children – to turn their home into a larger-than-life virtual drawing canvas. It consists of a multicolor Brush, an Eraser, and a Magic Wand to bring their drawings to life.