Lack of 'Transformative' Features Slow Interest in Home IoT, Says IDC
Consumer IoT awaits its “iPod moment,” said Jonathan Gaw, IDC research manager-connected home, on a webcast on findings of a March consumer survey. Most consumer IoT devices add connectivity and apps to existing home devices that do “little more than…
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save users the bother of a few steps to click a switch,” he said. IDC’s survey of 1,517 U.S. adults with broadband at home indicated a flattening of interest in smart home adoption. Consumers lack understanding of what networked technology can do, said Gaw. Three-quarters of U.S. broadband households have the devices and services in place that would enable video streaming from Internet to the TV, and 28 percent do it. Just over 30 percent of consumers said they were highly interested in streaming online videos to TV but weren’t doing it, even though a majority of those owned the devices and paid for subscriptions that would enable them to do so. Nine of 10 owned a home network -- what Gaw called the “critical part of home IoT readiness." Respondents expressed concerns about privacy and security, said Gaw, though respondents hadn’t done much to protect their data.