• New services, acquisitions disrupt as well as evolve the Smart Home market

BOSTON: Strategy Analytics’ smart home analysts have made their predictions for the smart home market in 2019, and they foresee even more potent pushes from big consumer technology brands into the smart home market, and a stronger emphasis across the board on services versus hardware.

New roads into existing markets, whether through hardware-as-a-service sales models or smart home service providers partnering with insurance companies, are certain to disrupt established business, but are also crucial for the market to evolve beyond its device-centric roots. Lines between many facets of the smart home market are blurring, especially for telecommunications companies and internet service providers.

“The evolution of the smart home market, and the emergence of the intelligent home, will take time, and 2019 will showcase some big steps forward,” said Jack Narcotta, Senior Industry Analyst, Strategy Analytics’ Smart Home Strategies research service.

“Less than 10 years ago many asked what the smart home market would look like,” said Bill Ablondi, Director, Strategy Analytics’ Smart Home Strategies research service. “Now, we’re identifying which companies and what marketing and technology strategies are going to win.”

Strategy Analytics’ predictions for the smart home market in 2019 are availablehere. Key predictions for 2019 include, among others:

• Facebook entering the smart home market through its Portal video calling device
• Amazon partnering with a major US home insurance provider
• Apple introducing a lower-cost HomePod to expand HomeKit’s footprint
• Monitoring of elderly and disabled people emerges as an important smart home service
• Service providers replace individual offerings with blends of entertainment and smart home control