ABI Research estimates that the smart home technology pushed into 34 million new homes worldwide in 2018. The researcher estimates that in North America, as much close to 40% of homes have invested in smart home technology.
ABI warns that new home growth is poised to decline slightly in 2019 year as the market transitions from capturing new homes to extending the scope of existing deployments.
Jonathan Collins, Research Director at ABI Research says that manufacturers and service providers that have managed to secure a captive customer base must now pivot to deliver offerings that can be integrated into existing smart homes or to deliver pricing and services that can entice smart home users to ditch their existing investments.
He believes voice control is key to ongoing smart home integration with platforms like Alexa is vital for device OEMs and service providers. ABI Research estimates that strong voice control shipment will push total smart home device shipments revenue to reach US$24.3 billion worldwide, with a 16% CAGR between 2019 and 2024.
He notes that Amazon, Google, Tencent and Alibaba are building large installed bases, which is increasingly putting them in a powerful position to determine the direction and value of smart home interoperability.
The millions of homes where voice control has gained a foothold for smart home adoption will be fertile ground for the wider adoption of a growing range of additional smart home devices, control systems, integrated applications, and vendors. “How the smart home market understands and engages with this potential, driven by voice control, will shape the market to come,” Collins concludes.
