If you believe the new study from Parks Associates, there is a virtual explosion of connected devices going into consumer’s homes over the next few years.
Analysts predict more than 442 million connected consumer devices will be sold in the U.S. in 2020. These sales totals include connected entertainment, mobile, health, and smart home devices. Personal assistant devices, which include speakers with voice control such as the Amazon Alexa and Google Home, are the fastest growing category.
“U.S. consumers will buy more than 2.3 billion connected devices between 2015 and 2020, and they are showing strong preferences for voice as the interface for their devices.” – Elizabeth Parks, SVP, Parks Associates
Nest was one of the early consumer in-home products that gained traction, controlling home heating and cooling systems.
“We’ve only scratched the surface of what the connected home can do for consumers and companies,” said William Greene, Product Manager, Energy Services, Nest Labs.
Early connected products have run into negative reviews. Primarily, advocates say, because of complexity and connectivity issues. Both items are solvable.
“Wi-Fi is by far the dominant technology for connected products – the vast majority of broadband homes have Wi-Fi. However, historically it has been too complex to get headless products connected to Wi-Fi. Nearly 40% of the negative reviews of smart home products are the result of connectivity and setup issues. Making it easy for end users to connect products is critical to the success of the industry.” – Rob Conant, CEO, Cirrent.
Voice controls is vying to become the primary user interface for the smart home and connected lifestyle, according to Park
- 44% of U.S. broadband households use voice controls on Internet-connected devices
- More than half (55%) of U.S. broadband households want to use voice to control their entertainment and smart home devices.
- Adoption of smart speakers with personal assistants, including Amazon Echo, Dot, or Tap, or Google Home, is 10-11% of U.S. broadband households and, in 2020, annual sales in this product category will exceed 50 million units.
- 75%-85% of smart product owners rate voice control of smart lighting, smart thermostats, smart smoke detectors, and smart garage door openers as appealing.
“As consumer awareness of the connected home grows we will discuss how companies move further into the mainstream by delivering valuable solutions that solve real-world problems in ways that are tangible to homeowners.” – Scott Harkins, VP IoT Partner Programs Honeywell Connected Home & Buildings, Honeywell
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