Study: Consumers not being turned on by connected home
A recent study shows consumers aren’t warming up to the idea of so-called “smart homes,” where everything from their appliances to lighting to their air conditioning is voice controlled and connected. Beyond the early adopter crowd, most consumers would prefer to keep things under control manually, according to survey of nearly 10,000 consumers in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.
Only about 10 percent of households currently have connected home solutions. The poll took place during the second half of 2016:
The people who tend to get most excited about remote-controlling their physical environment are typically nerds. And nerds are necessarily a sub-group of consumers — albeit, the same sub-group closely involved in coming up with tech concepts to market to consumers in the first place. (Which perhaps explains some other recent tech missteps — e.g. overestimated demand for smart watches/wearables.)
“Although households in the developed world are beginning to embrace connected home solutions, providers must push beyond early adopter use,” says Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner, commenting on the research in a statement. “If they are to successfully widen the appeal of the connected home, providers will need to identify what will really motivates current users to inspire additional purchases.”