"smart home" articles

Imagine a hot summer night in Phoenix, one of the hottest major cities in the United States. I’m visiting my grandmother’s home while on a break from college and sleeping on the pullout couch in her guest room. It’s 2 a.m., and I have awaken feeling quite warm and am unable to return to a peaceful slumber. That’s because my grandma has turned up the thermostat to 82 degrees. Her formative years were during the height of the Great Depression, and throughout the course of her life,...

Parks Associates will host the 12th-annual CONNECTIONS™ Europe: IoT and the Connected Consumer , November 1-2, 2017 at the Amsterdam Marriott Hotel, featuring high-level speakers from the top European and international companies in the digital living ecosystem. Early confirmed keynotes include: Sudeep Maitra , Global VP, Strategy and Development,  Centrica Matthias Mieves , Head of New Business, Sales & Marketing Connected Home,  Deutsche...

Today is Amazon’s Prime Day (7/11). In the past week, noteworthy discounts on Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices has been top tech news. As of Q2/2017, Amazon’s smart speakers with the Alexa personal assistant have led smart speaker market with highest consumer adoptions (according to data from Parks Associates). During its WWDC17 keynote, Apple announced its participation in the playground with Apple HomePod, which will be ready to ship in December 2017, suggesting a coming change in...

Consumers have been relatively quick to embrace voice-based applications, beginning and led by Apple’s Siri. Parks Associates research notes that at the end of 2016, 45% of U.S. smartphone owners reported using a voice-enabled personal assistant through an app or dedicated device. As devices continue to add listening capabilities, voice control will extend throughout the home and in other connected devices as an intrinsic, easy, and natural way to facilitate smart home...

The European smart home market is moving forward, but differences between Europe and the U.S. create unique challenges. In the U.S., adoption of professionally monitored security exceeds 20% of households. Overall, adoption of professional monitoring services in Europe is under 3% of households. In the U.S., the security channel is the leading channel for smart home services. Many telecoms have entered the security market because it has an established market with a proven approach...

Kian Saneii , Founder & CEO, Independa, provided insight on several key industry trends ahead of Parks Associates’ 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™ Conference , which was held May 23-25 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport: What does the industry need to do to speed up the slow growth of overall smart home adoption? The industry needs three things to speed up the growth of overall smart home adoption: Integration, Affordability, and Simplicity. ...

Leading insurance companies are currently testing various models for integrating smart home services with insurance services in order to deepen customer engagement, mitigate risk, and create new revenue streams. While the insurance industry has historically used data in a backward-looking manner, IoT data streaming from devices in real-time represents an opportunity to quantify risk with greater precision. Parks Associates research indicates a substantial portion of consumers would...

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of conversation among industry players about how to drive adoption of smart home products and services . The smart home market has achieved lower than expected year-over-year growth. And, despite the concerted effort from major technology brands to increase awareness and interest in the smart home, adoption is still primarily among early adopters. At Parks Associates’ 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference...