Commentary

Most Consumers Still Not Familiar With Most Smart Devices

There are smart devices and then there are consumers who know about smart devices

The problem is, there are many more smart devices than there are people familiar with them.

Most people are familiar with smartphones and smart TVs, since pretty much any phone or TV bought today is, by definition, a smart device.

However, after those two items, most consumers are not familiar with connected devices, such as smart door locks and smart thermostats, based on a new study.

Fewer than half (40%) of people are familiar with smart programmable thermostats and even fewer (28%) are familiar with smart door locks, based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. adult heads of households conducted by Parks Associates.

Even smart speakers are not high on the list. Here’s the breakdown of how familiar consumers are with smart devices:

  • 80% -- Smartphone
  • 59% -- Smart TV
  • 40% -- Smart programmable thermostat
  • 39% -- Smartwatch
  • 34% -- Smart speaker with personal assistant (Amazon Echo, etc.)
  • 30% -- Networked security camera
  • 29% -- Smart doorbells with video
  • 28% -- Smart door lock

Despite this, smart home adoption rates have been growing, with 26% of broadband households having at least one device that can be turned on or off using a smartphone.

More telling is that only 10% of consumers in broadband households use personal assistants or apps to control smart devices in their home, according to Parks Associates.

Those lights and thermostats still are run by physically going to the device or a switch to manually operate it.

Before masses of consumers start controlling smart devices remotely, they have to become familiar with them.

IoT market growth is not hampered by the technology as much as it is by the lack of knowledge about it.

 

 

2 comments about "Most Consumers Still Not Familiar With Most Smart Devices".
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  1. Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, July 7, 2017 at 5:02 p.m.

    Interesting. What tech has forgotten is there's a big difference between having a "smart device" and it giving people enough value for them to fight the hassles of getting them to work regularly.

    We have had for 3-4 years a smart door lock, smart lights, & smart electrical outlets... Of which we use none via apps. There simply isn't need. We don't have a smart thermostat because the standard programmable one is fine - tiny advantage for programming via app vs huge hassle getting it to work. 

    The smart device I own which I use are security cameras at my office. They have proven quite useful - most often letting me relax when the monitored security has a false alarm.

    This shouldn't surprise anyone. And this is tech's incredible blind spot:  having the tech doesn't matter - delivering value does.

  2. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, July 9, 2017 at 7:39 p.m.

    Very well said, Doug.

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