Most Innovative Companies 2015: A Q&A With SmartThings Founder Alex Hawkinson
Join Fast Company assistant editor Rose Pastore for a live Q&A with SmartThings founder Alex Hawkinson. The event will begin at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, March 11, but you can get your questions in now.
"The vision is that it's super easy for an everyday person to make their home a smart home," SmartThings founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson told us last year. The connected-home company, launched on Kickstarter and acquired by Samsung in August 2014, offers an open, cloud-based platform through which consumers can control locks, light bulbs, sound systems, kitchen appliances, garage doors, and more.
SmartThings' kits of smartphone-controlled sensors can be used to automatically turn on your coffeemaker when your wake-up alarm goes off, for example, or to send you a text if your refrigerator door is left open. Hawkinson sees his company's Internet of Things platform as Android for the home. Because the SmartThings platform is open, developers can create their own smart-home apps and sell them directly to consumers.
We'll be talking with Hawkinson about how SmartThings fosters its community of developers, how people are using connected-home tech today, and what the smart home of the near future might look like.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, March 11, but you can get your questions in now using the "make a comment" box below. And be sure to read our Most Innovative Companies article on Samsung and SmartThings.
