As more new smart devices appear, the same stumbling blocks remain – a hodgepodge of protocols that continues to confuse consumers to no end. To date, the connected world is awash with more than half a dozen smart home systems — like Apple HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings, Lowe’s Iris, and...
As more new smart devices appear, the same stumbling blocks remain – a hodgepodge of protocols that continues to confuse consumers to no end. To date, the connected world is awash with more than half a dozen smart home systems — like Apple HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings, Lowe’s Iris, and AllJoyn — using a variety of wireless protocols, such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and Z-Wave. To make matters more complex, that is just a partial list.
DSR Corporation, a US-based software development company, understands that, and has since been working relentlessly to form corporate partnerships and developing software solutions to achieve real market results. The company has been tapped by the ZigBee Alliance to showcase the seamless interoperability between certified ZigBee home automation products of Bosch, CentraLite, FeiBit, Legrand, OSRAM, Philips, Ubisys, and Xinghuoyuan Group at CES 2016.
Anatoli Pechkov,
CEO of DSR Corporation
“Needless to say, a majority of consumers today are unfamiliar with the smart home. And that is the problem,” Anatoli Pechkov said, CEO of DSR Corporation.
Pechkov pointed out to SMAhome that users are still in a phase where they need to acquire the habit of adopting smart devices to their home, as the same strategy was used for the rapid adoption of smartphones
“The situation is reminiscence of when smart phones were first introduced to the market over a decade ago, and at a time when the percentage of touchscreen cellphones was relatively low,” he explained.
“Consistency is critical if you want to make a habit stick. In other words, we need to pursue the efforts to educate users about the smart home.”
What’s more, the conundrum is further restricted in that retailers aren’t doing enough to help promulgate smart home adoption.
“What we are seeing today is that there is a lot of hype about the smart home, but companies are not doing enough to help market them. Another factor to consider is the price,” the CEO said, noting an example of Home Depot, whose smart home sales didn’t go down too well because their prices were set too high.
In retrospect, there are still many barriers preventing mass-market smart home adoption: high device prices, limited consumer demand and long device replacement cycles. However, the largest barrier is the technological fragmentation of the smart home ecosystem, in which consumers need multiple networking devices, apps and more to build and run their smart home.
Hence, the general consensus as explained by Anatoli Pechkov during an interview at CES 2016 is that mass smart home adoption will come at some undefined future date.
“Companies in the connected home field will need to focus on their application field, including software, so that they can help drive the market,” he concluded.