New smart home installations in North America are projected to grow to 2.3 million in 2013, an increase of 66 per cent year-on-year. says the research firm. Over the longer term the number of new installations each year will be 12.8 million by 2017. Penetration of smart home systems in North American households will increase from just 3.2 per cent at the end of 2013 to 16.6 percent in 2017.

The European market for smart home systems, on the other hand, is about three years behind North America in terms of penetration and market maturity, but Berg believes that the European market is on the brink of entering a strong growth phase similar to that witnessed in North America. The market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 78 per cent during the next five years, reaching 8.7 million new smart home installations in 2017. The penetration of smart home systems in EU27+2 households will at the same time increase from 0.4 percent in 2012 to 5.9 percent by 2017.

Why now? The cost of traditional whole-home automation systems has usually cost tens of thousands of dollars while the affordable DIY systems were poorly performing and unfriendly. But that was before our old friend the smartphone burst onto the scene. The new systems rely on smartphone apps as a primary user interface more user-friendly systems and price tags have been the result.