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

For Cord Cutters, AT&T’s New Virtual Cable Service An Unlikely Solution

Each is a decent enough product, but they’ve generated hardly any interest from consumers. Research firm Parks Associates estimated in October that after 18 months, Sling TV had signed up only 1 milli...

DirecTV Wants To Be The Next Online Substitute For Cable

But analysts estimate that Sling has racked up fewer than 1 million subscribers since it launched in February 2015. Vue's numbers are harder to get a handle on, but it's not on the list of top 10 most...

Edited Transcript Of WWE Earnings Conference Call Or Presentation

According to research conducted by Parks Associates, WWE Network is still the fifth largest streaming video-on-demand service in the United States, alongside Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and MLB.TV. Researc...

1-gig Internet coming to Boston area

Meantime, Google acquired Webpass, a San Francisco company that uses wireless technology instead of cables to deliver high-speed Internet services to businesses and apartment buildings. Brett Sappi...