TechHive reports that Glenn Reid, a tech-industry veteran with stints at Apple and Adobe on his resume, is set to take the wraps off a smart electric washer dryer at CES in January.
Marathon’s machine puts both a washer and a dryer in the same enclosure. A washer dryer.
Unlike previous failed attempts to combine the two, Marathon’s machine will be vented and Reid promises it won’t take five hours to dry your clothes.
The machine is also priced to compete with other connected washing machines at $1199 (£816) and those rival machines need dryers alongside them, where Marathon’s does not. Although if you are a reader of this site you will know that we have little love for washer dryers. Well, none actually.
Marathon’s Wi-Fi connected washer dryer comes with a large (for a washer) touchscreen panel and a free smartphone app to act as a remote control. The machine has an A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, and an equal amount of storage. It was originally based on Android, but Reid chucked the OS because it “was more complicated than it needed to be.” The machine communicates with your phone and collects data about what you wash, when, and at what temperature.
Reid is in discussions with power companies in major cities to negotiate better rates for buyers, so when you put a load of laundry in before you go to bed, your Marathon machine will delay the start of its first cycle until power rates go down.
TechHive went on to say that Marathon is up against some major competition: Companies like Samsung, LG, Haier, and Whirlpool have dominated the industry for years. The home appliance space isn’t prone to shake-ups because washers and dryers are expensive to produce and tough to market—people tend to go with trusted brand names. But Reid thinks the industry needs to be turned on its ear, just as Tesla did to the auto industry.
Those barriers to entry are real, which is why Marathon’s first machine combines an OEM washing machine with the startup’s own CPU and dryer parts. After nailing the first version, Marathon will work on building a machine from the ground up—just like Tesla.
So at least initially, like almost all new entrants to the appliance world, it’s a rebranded core that lies at the heart of the machine, which is the main tub and drum unit along with, quite possibly, most of the running gear and suspension.
Why haven’t other companies just produced all-in-one laundry machines? Reid says no executive wants to be the person at the table who says, “I know how we can make half as much money as we did last year—let’s combine them!”
Or just maybe, the people that have been in the business for a long time know something Reid doesn’t, like that washer dryers are notoriously more unreliable than separate washer and dryer combinations.
Reid will show Marathon’s machine to the public for the first time at CES, where the startup’s competitors will also be exhibiting. He wants them to see what he’s up to. Marathon is currently taking preorders online and is in talks with retailers for physical distribution. Reid expects to begin shipping the machines by June.
