Smart home technologies are becoming easier for consumers to learn and use, and their practical benefits are more self-evident to homeowners as well. Security, fire and safety often top the list, but other use cases including energy management are creeping onto consumers’ wish lists with the likes of smart thermostats and connected light bulbs.
Comcast is one operator that’s obviously committed in a big way to offering smart home services through Xfinity Home. The operator recently released information from a survey it commissioned from NextMarket Insights that indicates smart home technology ownership could reach 30 million households in the next year.
Consumer awareness is expanding as new offerings with clear value are made available. “This research reinforces our belief that product categories which provide tangible help in meeting consumer needs such as family safety or work-life balance will experience significant growth in end user adoption over the next five years,” Michael Wolf, chief analyst for NextMarket Insights, explains.
Another report on the topic is just out this week from Parks Associates that predicts 50 percent of North American broadband households will be smart homes by 2020. According to the research firm, ownership of smart home products increased from 16 percent to 19 percent of U.S. broadband households in the last year, and 44 percent of households that do not have a smart home device plan to purchase one in 2016.
Parks says a big driver is the fact that home and consumer-based Internet of Things (IoT) opportunities are attracting companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook. They’re planning and rolling out products around everything from home entertainment and connected CE, smart home and security, apps and mobile devices and connected cars and healthcare.
“Over the last 30 years, Parks Associates has seen the concept of the connected home expand to include new form factors while still retaining that core vision of delivering a superior consumer experience,” Barbara Kraus, the company’s director of research says. “Given the market leadership positions of these larger companies in their core businesses and the extensive ecosystems they have built, their entry into the connected home ecosystem will help accelerate growth in established categories and emerging technologies such as wearables, smart fabrics and virtual and augmented reality.”
Interoperability of solutions from a wide variety of vendors and service providers remains a hurdle — but one the industry is aware it needs to continue to address, which another analyst at Parks points out.
“Adoption of the connected lifestyle continues to expand as the supporting technologies mature and the value propositions of smart, connected devices and streaming services are better understood by consumers,” Research Analyst Brad Russell observes. “The groundwork is laid for continued growth in 2016 and beyond by increased access to fixed and mobile broadband and improved resolution of interoperability challenges by more collaborative, though fragmented, communications networks.”
