Recently, Sony has been in the news because hackers leaked social security numbers, salary information, and unreleased films from Sony Pictures. That division is obviously just one piece of the conglomerate’s pie, but it’s a tad ironic that its latest project is all about security.
Yesterday, Sony launched a crowdfunding campaign for Qrio Smart Lock on Makuake, a sort of Kickstarter in Japan. Claiming to be the smallest smart lock available, Qrio is retrofittable and lets you open your front door (or, we suppose, your bathroom door if you really wanted) with your smartphone.
Slipping over the existing hardware on your door, you don’t even need a screwdriver to install Qrio, according to the Wall Street Journal. It uses an adhesive that apparently won’t damage the door, so it can be used in rental houses, or temporarily on a stairwell door if you’re having an exclusive rooftop party. Anyone who has the encrypted key can use their smartphone to unlock the door. (We’ll admit, we’re not quite sure how to get the smart look off the door, because the crowdfunding page is all in Japanese.)
While there are lots of other smart locks entering the market, including the recently released August, Sony is hoping to get feedback from users by launching on Makuake.
This isn’t the first time Sony has turned to crowdfunding; it did so for the FES Watch, hiding behind its offshoot brand Fashion Entertainments to “test the real value of the” e-ink product, as one representative told WSJ at the time.
This time around, Sony went ahead and put its name on the (very bottom of the) Makuake site. Even if they hadn’t, it might not have been too difficult to figure out the company was involved; Sony named its dancing robot from the early ‘00s Qrio.
Related: August Smart Lock review
The device is expected to retail for $120 (¥15,000), less than the $250 August. Though it’s only been a day, the smart lock has already exceeded its goal and has raised over $22,000 USD. That’s a lot of “Cash Money” (aka, Jessica Alba’s alter ego, a fact we learned from the Sony hack).
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