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IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors

February 01, 2024

home automation

The Boston Globe

The company is still “number one,” said Elizabeth Parks, president of market research firm Parks Associates in Dallas. But it’s a shaky number one. Parks estimates that iRobot had nearly two-thirds of the robot vacuum market in 2018, but now holds only a 48 percent share. Meanwhile, rival robot makers like SharkNinja, Roborock, Eufy, and Ecovacs have been steadily chipping away.

One possible reason, according to Parks, is concern about data privacy. More advanced versions of the Roomba and other robots use visual sensors to generate detailed maps of the user’s home. This information is shared with the manufacturers to develop more advanced products, but it could also potentially be used to monitor users.

From the article, "IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors" by Hiawatha Bray

Previously In The News

Tipping point: Video streamers are now in the majority as pay TV watching drops

Among those services, Netflix is the clear leader, with Amazon and Hulu next, according to a recent survey from Parks Associates. Deloitte found a concurrent "inflection point" for providers of tra...

Pay TV Providers Hanging On With Online Partnerships

New research from Parks Associates shows that 21 percent of U.S. pay TV subscribers subscribe to an online video service through their pay TV provider, up from 10 percent a year ago. The research f...

Buying a home? Sellers may use cameras, microphones to spy on house hunters

About 9.4 million U.S. homes, or 7.4% of the total, are equipped with Wi-Fi enabled cameras and mics, says Brad Russell, research director for Parks Associates, a consumer technology research firm. As...

As cord-cutting prices rise, here's what you can do to keep costs down

“Costs for content producers and networks continue to rise faster than the general inflation rate,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research, Parks Associates, in an e-mail interview. “As lo...

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