Study: Entertainment services driving smart home market

HAMPSHIRE, U.K.—Consumers will spend $100 billion on smart home services by 2020, according to new data from Juniper Research, based here. That includes expenses for entertainment, energy and home automation.

In contrast, this year's smart home service cost was estimated at less than twice of that prediction, at $43 billion, Juniper said.

Entertainment services are playing a key role in boosting the smart home market size, driven by a universal appeal and the low cost of services, Juniper said in a prepared statement. Smart home segments, however, such as home automation, are expected to begin catching up because of falling hardware costs and increased consumer awareness, Juniper said.

A number of home automation subscription services, such as AT&T's Digital Life, have been struggling to address the mass market, according to Juniper's report, “Smart Home Ecosystems & The Internet of Things: Strategies & Forecasts 2015-2020.” Incremental unit-by-unit purchases are the most likely entry point for the consumer, the study said.

Subscription services add value to hardware sales, the study found.

In addition, the study said that “voice control and other 'hands-free' mechanisms will become the principle interface between users and devices in a smart home; and, that the “use of wearable devices to passively supply 'quantified self' data to control smart home devices is like to emerge as a key use case towards 2020.”

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.