Digital Lifescapes

While all technology adoption will typically follow a somewhat predictable growth path, sometimes progression falters at the early-adopter stage of market development. Home Automation was gaining attention and experiencing robust growth in 2014, however a new market study by Argus Insights reveals that demand has slowed. Data show that as of May 2015, consumer demand for connected home devices -- such as thermostats, light bulbs, locks, sensors and cameras -- experienced its first drop below the level of a year ago, a sign that consumer interest has apparently stalled. "Based on our review of consumer interest, the state of home automation in 2015 is not looking good for anyone who sells or makes these devices," said John Feland, CEO at Argus Insights . “Even though Google and Samsung made big purchases in this space by buying Nest thermostats, Dropcam and the suite of SmartThings products demand is stagnating." Feland believes that it's obvious that the early ...

Home automation is reaching an inflection point. Service providers -- including telcos and cable operators -- are introducing a range of offerings to this market. The intersection of home automation services with wearables, Internet of Things (IoT) sensor technologies, big data analytics, and health management services creates new opportunity. A growing roster of smart home services and device providers are using home security monitoring as a beachhead to introduce home automation services, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. In the key U.S. market, considered by industry analysts to be a bellwether for developed markets around the world, around 15 million more U.S. homes will invest in new connected home security services in the next 5 years. "After decades where penetration into U.S. households stalled, home security adoption is set for significant growth," said Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI Research . However, it will not b...

The notion of a Smart Home -- where technology is a central part of enabling new digital lifestyle advances -- has been discussed for more than a decade. It appears that the concept is finally gaining traction in 2014, even within Europe. According to the latest market study by Strategy Analytics, 11 percent of UK households will have at least one smart system by the end of this year, rising to over 27 percent of households in five years. The number of UK households with some form of smart home system -- automated entertainment, energy, appliance, security or healthcare systems typically controlled remotely through internet technology -- will increase 43 percent on last year to 3.1 million in 2014, spending a total of £715 million. This is forecast to double to £1.4 billion across 7.7 million UK households by 2019. "While telecom brands are leading the drive in Europe, energy companies are dominating the early take-up of smart homes in Britain," said Bill Ablondi, dir...

The global market for home automation services grew significantly during 2012, primarily driven by a wave of new entrants and offerings in the North American market. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the U.S. in particular leads in deployments and new shipments -- acting as a bellwether for markets around the world. Even within the low growth American economy and the lackluster new housing market, home automation systems installed in the U.S. this year almost doubled over 2011 shipments. In 2017, more than 8 million home automation systems will ship -- representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.2 percent between 2011 and 2017. Over the past 12 months, Verizon has rolled out its service offering, leading U.S. cable companies -- including Comcast and Time Warner -- have expanded their footprints and security vendors including ADT and Vivint continued to see strong demand for their solutions. "Home automation adoption is moving into the main...

According to the latest market study by ABI research, the wireless sensor network market, led by the ZigBee standard, grew ten-fold from 2007 to 2010 and exceeded 45 million annual shipments in 2011. "Strong growth is expected for 2012 and beyond as ZigBee pervades the home automation and home entertainment markets, while Smart Meters continue to be rolled out across the globe,” said Peter Cooney, wireless connectivity practice director at ABI Research . Smart metering is the largest market for ZigBee in 2012 and will continue to be the major market growth driver as global roll outs of smart meters continue apace. ZigBee/RF4CE use in the home environment will also be a major growth driver. Home automation and home entertainment together are forecast to grow to over $300 million per annum by 2017. Until quite recently ZigBee/RF4CE has been the lead choice for interoperable low power wireless connectivity in the home automation and home entertainment markets and one look at ...

According to the latest market study by Infonetics Research, the increased adoption of connected consumer electronics devices -- and various other Internet-enabled devices within the home -- creates exponential demand for high-speed local area networks. "Media tablets, connected TVs, digital media players, and a growing list of other devices are driving sales of home networking devices, and this is nowhere more apparent than in North America, which captured 37 percent of networking device revenue in 2011," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research . Infonetics has forecast that the demand for broadband peripherals -- especially those with integrated MoCA chips -- will continue to increase globally as broadband service providers in all regions launch new home automation, energy management, entertainment, and communications services that require high-end networking devices. I anticipate that the upside for new high-speed...

Home automation service offerings are rapidly transforming the way consumers will monitor, secure, and control their residence. Typically delivered by more expensive, custom-installed technology, home automation is now moving into the mainstream, with many companies adding home automation to their customer services. A number of factors are driving the new entrants into the market. Internet connectivity is one key factor. Not only are there currently high home broadband penetration rates, as well as the potential for embedded cellular connections to connect systems, but also smartphone applications allow consumers to control and check their homes from wherever they are. As connectivity options make the home automation systems more useful, market changes are also making home automation more affordable. A traditional large up-front installation and equipment purchase is increasingly being replaced by monthly subscription offerings -- often bundled alongside already existing servic...

Like the closely-related market for home energy management systems (HEMS), the smart appliances market has failed to develop as many in the industry had anticipated. Most internet connected appliance product applications are still in the early pilot project stage and have failed to reach retail outlets in any large number. However, according to the latest market study by ABI Research, shipments will soon begin to accelerate and eventually exceed 24 million units by 2017. With smart meter deployment growing apace, energy costs following a seemingly upward trajectory, and progress made on improving interoperability of all aspects of the smart grid, it is only a matter of time before shipments gather momentum. That being said, it is likely that it will take a couple of years for ultra-premium price tags to erode, and for dynamic pricing structures to become more widely implemented in order to stimulate consumer demand. The number of major appliance manufacturers that have used r...

Infonetics Research recently surveyed broadband service providers who are deploying either home automation or home control solutions, about the types of services they plan to offer now and in the future. They asked about delivery methods, technologies and protocols, home monitoring equipment suppliers they buy from now and are evaluating for future purchases, and who they perceive of as the top suppliers in the field. The results are published in a Infonetics report which offers an in-depth look into the latest trends in home automation (services offered via a broadband or mobile IP connection to the home). "While the home automation market is still young, major operators, including Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and China Telecom, have already made public announcements regarding home automation services and some have begun initial rollouts, and many more will jump into the game this year," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and vid...

At the close of last year, Infonetics Research released the findings from their third quarter 2011 (3Q11) market study of broadband access equipment and home networking devices. Looking forward, wireline broadband service providers will continue to seek new upside revenue opportunities -- due to market saturation for basic Internet access offerings. "As we mentioned earlier, we expect the global wireline broadband CPE market to peak in 2011 due to a surge of infrastructure investments this year by service providers, especially in emerging markets," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research . With a bulk of the infrastructure groundwork already laid, many broadband service providers must now shift their focus to provisioning new services in subscriber homes. However, basic internet access service growth potential still exists in a few emerging markets. Infonetics says that they're already seeing steady growth in wideba...

Home automation systems have typically been installed in one of two ways -- the economical, do-it-yourself model, and the expensive custom-designed installation. Both approaches have limited the potential size of the market. However, a third way is emerging and it promises to fuel tremendous market growth. Home automation as a managed service, provided by a broadband service provider. Homeowners will be able to monitor their homes remotely, and control basic features such as lighting or air conditioning. These new managed home automation services will both compete with and complement the traditional home security alarm market. According to the latest market study by ABI Research , there will be more than nine million security cellular wireless M2M connections active in the U.S. market before 2015. ABI Practice director Sam Lucero says, "Traditional security firms such as ADT will increasingly be joined in the mainstream by these new providers offering managed home automati...

Revenue from shipments of home automation systems will exceed $11.8 billion in 2015, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . That number includes all four categories of home automation -- Luxury, Mainstream, DIY and Managed. However, the luxury segment is forecast to deliver the greatest revenue. In addition to quantitative market measurement, ABI Research also sampled U.S. consumer attitudes with a September 2009 survey. Nearly half of the 1001 respondents did not know what the term "home automation" actually means. A further 43 percent understood the concept but had no system installed. According to ABI practice director Sam Lucero, "Our survey results show that a major challenge is simply lack of awareness on the part of mainstream consumers. Other issues for consumers were the expense, and a perceived lack of need for home automation." Regardless, Lucero believes that the home automation market is approaching an inflection point beyond whi...

Vendors of home automation systems are expected to ship nearly 2.8 million units in 2011, according to the latest market study from ABI Research. Only one of the four segments of this market -- that for luxury systems -- will be significantly impacted by the recession, according to senior analyst Sam Lucero. The luxury home automation market for systems costing more than $50,000 is relatively mature, so it will feel the greatest impact from the recession. Two other segments -- standards-based mainstream home automation systems and home automation as a service -- are so new and have so much room for growth that they should expand rapidly starting in 2010 no matter the progress of the wider economic recovery. Likewise, the final segment -- DIY home automation -- is tied to a certain extent to these other newer segments and should also see healthy growth. Rather, the challenges to achieving that growth are related to creation of new market mechanisms: the development of distribution chann...