Connected home solutions yet to kick off globally: Report

Adoption of connected home solutions is still at an early adopter phase, with only 10 per cent of households in the US, Britain and Australia having such home solutions, market research firm Gartner said on Monday.

The survey included 10,000 online respondents in the US, Britain and Australia.

Connected home solutions consist of a set of devices and services that are connected to each other and to the internet and can automatically respond to preset rules, be remotely accessed and managed by mobile apps or a browser, and send alerts or messages to the users'.

"Although households in the developed world are beginning to embrace connected home solutions, providers must push beyond early adopter use," said Amanda Sabia, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.

The survey found that home security alarm systems have nearly double the adoption rates (18 per cent) of newer connected home solutions such as home monitoring (11 per cent), home automation or energy management (nine per cent), and health and wellness management (11 per cent).

In the US, where the home monitoring industry is more developed, 59 per cent of households with a home monitoring solution indicate they do pay a monthly fee, thus proving they see value for these solutions.

The challenge is even greater in Britain, where few home automation services are subscription based and 58 per cent of households with home automation get their services free of charge, the findings showed.

--IANS

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