Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Rise of connected homes raise security concerns

And that may be just the start. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich demonstrated at CES how a connected door lock might unlock automatically when a security camera recognized the owner's face. Hosain Rahman, CEO of Jawbone, described how his company's latest Up activity tracker could automatically tell your lights to turn on when it sensed you were getting up from bed.

"I don't have to program that," said Tom Kerber, director of research at Parks Associates, a technology consulting firm. "The devices are talking to each other and making those smart decisions on your behalf."

However, the show also pointed out that as the Internet of Things is rapidly developing, it's also facing some serious challenges, most notably a lack of standards.

For years now, many Internet of Things devices haven't been able to talk to one another because they use different communications protocols. That problem has started to be solved by hub devices that can translate among devices.

But a new problem is emerging: Many different companies want to establish themselves as the primary gatekeeper for the Internet of Things, and the ability of devices to communicate with one another is starting to be more about which companies have deals with each other.

From the article "Rise of connected homes raise security concerns" by David Jackman.

Previously In The News

Music Streaming Proving Popular For Phone Users

According to research from Parks Associates, 68% of smartphone owners listen to streaming music daily. That’s comparable to the 71% of consumers who watch short video clips on their phones daily. But...

The Streamers Fight For Position

But now, you don’t have to back into asking people about streaming media. They get it. And they also get it. A just-out report from Barbara Kraus, director of research for Parks Associates, calculates...

Netflix Has Low 'Churn' Rate Among Top OTT Services

Hulu is in 14% of all U.S. broadband subscribers, about 12.6 million subscribers. Parks says Hulu had a churn rate that equates to about half its subscribers. Looking at all U.S. broadband subscrib...

New Amazon Prime Monthly Sub Aims At Netflix

It would seem that offering the new monthly deal lets Amazon give viewers a way to see current Amazon original series, perhaps in binge mode, a few times a year rather than maintaining the service all...