Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors

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

Warner Bros. Discovery Is Built for the Streaming Wars – If It Can Shed Legacy Baggage: Analysis

“Hypothetically a new combined entity will be a stronger competitor,” Parks Associates analyst and director of research Paul Erickson told TheWrap. “HBO Max on its own merits is already breaking into...

Online Viewing Has An Off-Ramp Problem

God bless early adopters. They pay the huge prices for items the rest of us aren’t so sure we need or want. The color TV! PCs and iPads. Cell phones the size of a loaf of bread! Their early confidence...

Amazon to Ban Sale of Apple TV, Google Chromecast Streaming Devices

Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku devices made up 86% of all media-streaming products sold to U.S. households with broadband in 2014, according to an August report by Parks Associates. An estimated 86 mi...

Pay TV Dilemma: Cord-Snippers, -Shavers, -Nevers

The rise of cord-nevers is a real threat to the pay-TV industry, but the number of cord-cutters is growing, too. Similar findings from two research firms illuminate the changing nature of consumers...