The smart home market is far from spring with five major problems to solve

china Paint Online News
Smart homes, which have attracted attention in Silicon Valley over the past few years, have been a little out of favour in the VR boom, with losses falling from Google's Nest to Quirky's Wink. The smart home market is looking forward to the spring has not yet arrived, but the winter is even colder.
Nest was bought by Google for $3.2 billion in 2014, but it was only a year before a product was launched, and rumors of infighting between Nest executives and Google executives led to a wave of executive departures. Nest's revenue and results have disappointed Alphabet, Google's parent company, and are on the list of assets that could be sold by Alphabet. Nest's time from a halo-wrapped start-up to a company with constant negative news took only two years, especially after the acquisition of Alphabet, Google's parent company, in a cultural conflict that may have come from management and culture that was different from Alphabet's, and on the other hand from Alphabet's high expectations for Nest, but more importantly, Nest's limited products and its inability to break through in a market that has yet to break through. It's not that Nest's products aren't doing well, but smart thermostats and smart smoke sensors alone won't inspire enthusiasm in U.S. office buildings and homes, and smart home products are still in the category of early products such as tech enthusiasts and rich toys, and can't be extended to the broader mass consumer market.
As for Apple, considered a rival to Google Nest, Apple also released homeKit, a smart home platform, last year, but Apple has not directly launched smart home products, but through Siri remote control thermostats, garage doors, home lighting devices, security camera devices, etc. , in fact, mainly based on Siri voice control, is a software feature, Apple certified products can log on to homeKit platform, mainly through Apple's platform to enhance the network convenience of devices.
smart home market is far from the spring there are five major problems to be solved
at present, smart home devices are difficult to break through the awkward position, become accepted by the mass market products, the specific difficulties have
1. the price is too high. On the one hand reflected in the price, high-end smart home devices have some technical content, not socket plus USB interface can be called smart home devices, so the price is high. Second, even with app control or voice control, users have to pay a lot of time to adapt to new products, and for many devices they take for granted, people don't want to spend more time changing.
2. Even with a platform such as HomeKit platform that provides a combination of hardware and software, many smart home hardware devices are still considered to have a single function and have limited consumer needs, and even if there is a novelty that can impress some consumers, it is difficult to spread to a wider market. And this product often has a long update cycle problem, users when the novelty toys used, one may not be satisfied with will not buy, the other may be satisfied but if the quality of the product is not good will not be purchased, good quality products do not need to buy again is not.
3. Some of the smart home products crowdfunded in Kickstarter have been delayed, although hardware product development is difficult for everyone to understand, but the product delay in interviewing crowdfunding users such heavy users are disappointed, not to mention has not yet experienced the test of mass production, by more store displays, more apartment buildings and office buildings, and more ordinary home users accepted.
4. Smart home device is a networked device, the current user will also worry about the existence of security problems, some people think that once connected to the network, they become the prey of hackers, any privacy will not be secure, so in the smart home device failed to solve the security risks, some potential users will not dispel doubts.
5. Smart home devices are increasing, but too fragmented, there is no unified standards or platforms can integrate a large number of devices, smart home network, the goal pursued by many companies has not yet been achieved.
smart home manufacturers to solve the market stagnation is: reduce hardware prices to break down platform barriers
1. Smart home device manufacturers through follow-up services to make money, hardware products are not priced high, so that more ordinary people can accept.
2. Smart home devices need more publicity and display to make more potential users aware of what everyday needs are addressed, as well as convenience, thereby stimulating the market's desire to buy.
3. Smart home device manufacturers need to find a balance between initial purchases and subsequent replacements of devices, a device like a smartphone that needs to be upgraded in a year or two to bring sustained and stable cash flow to the company, as well as a stable user base.
4. Smart home manufacturers need to develop a common standard to solve the compatibility, operational barriers, forming a joint effort to reduce the user's initial use and the cost of more products, but hope that the introduction of standards in a short period of time is not realistic, after all, too many companies in the market may monopolize the benefits, in the market more frustration money, is unlikely to sit down to negotiate, more likely is a single manufacturer in the closed ecosystem based on the problem of fragmentation.
Smart home products are also part of the Internet of Things, with good prospects, the current temporary downturn is the result of the market hot rotation, but if there are companies in the ambush period to launch a startling product, may greatly promote the smart home market, there will be more users into this market, perhaps waiting for the unprecedented market outbreak period will come.