The smart home market is experiencing strong growth and is preparing the transition from “early adopters” to “the early majority,” says Tom Kerber, Director of IoT strategy at Parks Associates.
The smart home market is experiencing strong growth and is preparing the transition from “early adopters” to “the early majority,” says Tom Kerber, Director of IoT strategy at Parks Associates.
“Natural language control and analytics-based automation are simplifying the user experience and together act as a catalyst for the smart home market,” Kerber said.
More than 100 million households out of the total 117 million in the United States don’t have any smart gadgets at home, according to report recently published by research firm Parks Research. While the rate of smart home adoption may seem slow, the research firm also pointed to the potential.
Smart lighting will be the most common smart gadget at home since lighting is already the second-largest energy consumer at home, just behind HVAC. The report predicts that about 50 million U.S. households will have at least one smart light bulb by 2020. Consumers are looking for easier ways to control the light while conserving energy.
More than 40 million U.S. households will have smart thermostats installed at home by 2020, the firm predicts. Utility and energy service companies will try to study and control energy consumption, consequently pushing the number of installations. Companies like Nest, Honeywell, Ecobee and Alarm.com will also be involved in the installation and maintenance for the millions of households.
Up to 12 million households will have smart leak detectors to help control water use and prevent water damage. About 14 million households will have smart home controllers for security, entertainment or energy management purpose.
In terms of tech giant Apple, Google and Amazon’s participation in the field, the firm pointed out that their focus in the smart home ecosystem will be on the “wow factor” and make devices that attract early adopters in the market. Still, their devices may serve as data collection points and help monitor electricity use at home.