Carphone Warehouse’s merger with Dixons – what does it mean?

The white goods retailer has teamed up with the mobile phone company in an effort to modernise and “wire up” its products to the internet.

Boosting its exposure to the burgeoning mobile and smartphone market, Dixons says the convergence between the mobile and the white goods markets is a key “building block” for increased connectivity between devices, as well as users and their surroundings.

As one of Europe’s largest retailers, Dixons added that their range of electrical goods will be part of many of the devices that make up the “internet of things” (IOT). The IOT refers to the trends of connecting everyday household items such as fridges, ovens and even washing machines with the internet to make it “smarter”, essentially turning your phone into a remote control.

The new rule of the future is that “anything that can be connected, will be connected”, supposedly making your life easier. Analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020, there could be almost 26 billion devices included in this network. With this stance, this means your fridge could plan your next meal, order the contents online and even arrange the delivery times for you.

Sebastian James, CEO of Dixons told Sky News: “Today most people are using the phone to control their audio systems and increasingly it will be security systems and lighting and heating and that’s beginning already.

“I think we’ll be the only people, together, who can really tell that story end-to-end for our customers”.