Do We Want To Live In A Networked Home?
from the you-will dept
With all the work being done on home automation projects, a new study shows that most people couldn’t care less about living in a networked home. However, the results of this study aren’t going to stop the Internet Home Alliance from pushing forward with a variety of initiatives to get people interested. I agree with them that this sort of predictive study is somewhat useless. Without seeing and understanding the real possibilities of what a connected home could do, most (non-geek) people would immediately say it’s not worth it. However, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t pay attention to these people. For home automation to really take off, they need to get away from the “home automation” part of it, and focus on specifically selling the actual benefits that the end user would see. Instead of detailing the features of the “refrigerated oven”, for instance, explain how it will save people time in preparing dinner after work.
Comments on “Do We Want To Live In A Networked Home?”
The biggest Zero Billion dollar business in the wo
As anyone who has spent any time in the Home Automation industry will tell you, HA has been over-hyped for over 20 years now. Mike’s right about selling the benefits, but it’s not going to have anything to do with you accessing your oven (excluding those with OCD who panic everytime they leave the house thinking they “left the oven on”..).
The “networked home” revolution is well under way, and it is being driven mostly by the easily percieved data networking benefit of access the internet throughout the home so you can vote in TV “insta-polls” for your favorite bachelorette or coaches decision. 😉
Seriously now, distribution of media content will drive consumer adoption. Tivo’s announcement yesterday was just the start in a flood of announcements from companies pushing this initiative. The Home Automation industry vetrans will also let you know that there are only two areas consumers are willing to spend money for these systems- entertainment and security.
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I enjoy very much my wifi connecting the 3 pcs I have a t home, but I sincerely hate my internet-ready washing machine. It sn t connected, of course, but for every minor tech problem it detects-pipe leaking 1 drop every 48 hours- it just disable all functions and force you to call the assistance. Internet connection would add automatic assistance call-up (and related charges for a service organized pretty much like call centers, i.e. people hired, trained 1 months, paid peanuts, leaving after 3)
I don t want an internet ready washing machine which breaks down quiet often and is connected to useless assistance.
I just want a state of the art piece of machinery I can cheerfully lock in my bathroom