Orange has set out its “inclusive innovation” strategy at its sixth annual “Show Hello” event in Paris. Products and services featured included the Djingo smart speaker.

Developed with Deutsche Telekom as part of the European AI Alliance, Djingo is voice-controlled and is designed as an interface for all Orange services: it becomes a telephone to make hands-free calls at home, and can be used to interact with Orange TV and to control all ‘Connected Home’ services.
The Djingo smart speaker also has Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, built in, and Orange said that both it and Amazon look forward to expanding multi assistant integration in their future products.

In the future, the range of everyday services available via Djingo will be enhanced through partnerships with OUI.Sncf, Deezer, Radio France and Météo France. The Djingo smart speaker will be available in all Orange stores by spring 2019.
Djingo will also be included in other Orange devices, notably the remote control for the TV set-top box, via a simple software update.

Orange also updated attendees on its 5G plans. 5G is gradually being deployed on existing 4G sites. It will be installed in 17 European cities in 2019 and ready for commercial release in 2020, so long as enough 5G smartphones are available.

In spring 2019, in France, Orange’s Connected Home service will make it possible to directly link connected objects to the home’s Livebox to manage them remotely, control their use and analyse their consumption through a single app accessible via a smartphone or, in the future, a TV.
Connected Home is compatible with Orange devices and the main IoT brands like Philips Hue, Bosch and Netatmo. This offer requires no additional subscription and is accessible to any person with the latest generation Livebox and a premium broadband offer. The service will be deployed through a simple software update.

At the same time, Orange will launch ‘Protected Home’, a complementary security offer for the home, developed in partnership with Groupama. The house is connected to a video surveillance centre that triggers a call-out and calls the law enforcement agencies if required. This will be a subscription-based service.

While presenting the expertise and services of its Orange Cyberdefence entity to the public, Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of the Orange Group, also outlined his vision for a safer digital society, in which the protection of each person’s data is key. Orange offers a number of services that protect customer data, including ‘Mobile Connect’ (digital identity); ‘Parcours Patient/Patient Journey’ (healthcare); Mon Coach Financier/My Financial Coach’ (financial management) and ‘Le Vote/The Vote’ (civic engagement). As part of this same effort, Orange is creating an ethics committee on data use involving customer and employee representatives.

“To fight digital exclusion, Orange chooses inclusive innovation: useful and simple innovations that are accessible to the greatest possible number of people,” Richard said. “To do so, we deploy the best fixed and mobile networks across the country. We secure and facilitate our customers’ digital lives thanks to our expertise in cybersecurity and in digital identity. We help all our customers enter the eras of artificial intelligence and of the internet of things. All of this, to enable them to participate in a new form of digital society. A progressive, free and enlightened society.”