Today’s connected consumers want to be able to link up their smart home and entertainment devices, according to a new study.
Market research and consulting firm Parks Associates found that over two-thirds of smart home owners and shoppers want crossover applications that integrate with their home entertainment devices.
“Key crossover use cases include safety and security alerts popping up on a smart TV, and video from networked cameras shared across the connected screens in the home. In both cases, two-thirds of smart home owners and shoppers find these features appealing,” said Elizabeth Parks, senior vice president at Parks Associates. “Consumer interest in integration across IoT use cases is significant.”
And it doesn’t just stop at the front door, with 19% of smartwatch users saying they want to use their wearable device to lock and unlock their car, “so we are starting to see consumer interest in connecting the smart devices in their home, and on their person, to the smart systems in their car,” said Jennifer Kent, director of research quality and product development at Parks Associates.
Last week, the company hosted connected home conference Connections in San Francisco, with almost 600 IoT executives in attendance.
As part of the event, Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager of connectivity at Qualcomm Technologies, gave a talk in which he discussed the role of Wi-Fi and the home network in the IoT and the additional capabilities, including centralised management, voice services and machine learning, converging to make the IoT vision a reality for consumers.
“Today’s mesh networks are transforming in-home connectivity by minimising the complexity and challenges that a deluge of networks, IoT standards, and increasing number of connected devices has created, while providing consumers with unprecedented performance, simplicity and connectivity throughout the house,” Patel said. “And as the industry continues to add other features into these mesh Wi-Fi systems, we expect them to be instrumental in making the IoT vision a reality for consumers.”
