Friday 27 December 2013
When it comes to the connected home market, the hot action won't be so much in the devices themselves, but in platforms that tie together different products.
Smart thermostat Nest is just one device that makes up the connected home.
(Credit: Nest)
Instead of calling a handyman to repair a busted refrigerator or thermostat, imagine instead calling the "maker man." In addition to being able to check the mechanics of a device on the fritz, this fix-it person could also check things like connectivity and signal strength for the Wi-Fi-enabled appliance.
That's what Alex Hawkinson, chief executive of SmartThings, envisions. His startup makes a family of Internet-connected devices for the home. SmartThings also runs a platform service that helps people remotely control all of the other disparate devices made by different companies that are beginning to make their way into people's homes -- things like "smart" locks, lights, thermostats, and electrical plugs.
A SmartThings electrical plug
(Credit: SmartThings) It's fun to postulate about the future, but not exactly very helpful to set the crystal ball too far into the distance. Hawkinson, though, thinks that the days of the maker man aren't all that far away, and that a version of that concept will be around by next year. (The reference to "makers" comes from the
maker movement that places a heavy emphasis on robotics and DIY culture.) When I ask Hawkinson how he's so sure, he coyly refers to work that his own company is doing, and won't elaborate further.
That's just one prediction for what's likely going to emerge from the nascent connected home market in the upcoming year. But it encapsulates the kind of thing that industry insiders expect to see in 2014: important improvements not in the products themselves, but in the services around products.
The thinking is that the big opportunity will be for platforms, or hubs, like SmartThings, vying to tie together the so-called Internet of Things (a press friendly name for the connected device category), said IDC analyst Jonathan Gaw. With consumers actually starting to pay attention to connected products, the need will come for an easy way to manage all of them, despite their different manufacturers and ecosystems, Gaw said.
To be clear, connected devices still have a long way to go before they become a mainstay, or even more than an occasional fixture, in American homes. According to the latest research out of Forrester, only 2 percent of households currently use connected lights, climate control, or energy management, while only 5 percent use a connected security system. And about 30 percent to 40 percent of households say they're interested in using these kinds of devices and services in the future, according to the report which came out this week. But, if only anecdotally, the market has been making progress in the last few years, with legacy companies like General Electric and Honeywell investing in connected products.
Other companies trying to tie together the home include Revolv, which CNET described as designed to be the "central nervous system for your smart home devices." The product is a hub that connects to your home's Wi-Fi and acts as a universal remote for all your devices, instead of having to control them through each product's individual app. The product works with devices like the Nest thermostat and Yale locks.
Reference:-CNET
