The concept of a "smart home" is evolving, and the industry is searching for the right way to define this category, which includes all the conveniences that connected devices provide for homeowners and renters. The emerging buzz word “smart home” could soon hold as much selling power as “green home,” and experienced house-builders and estate agents are learning how to leverage the appeal and sell their homes more quickly as well as command a higher price for those homes. So, what qualifies as a smart or intelligent home?
Most people today think of a smart home as a modern home that has appliances, heating, lighting and/or electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by the owner, often via a mobile app. At Wondrwall we believe these functions should be controlled automatically and intelligently rather than via a smartphone or app. But which functions do homeowners expect to be controlled within their smart homes?
The most common type of smart home technology that people already own today is smart entertainment, such as smart TVs and speaker systems -- 44 percent of people with smart home technology own a smart entertainment product. Clearly though, just having a smart TV in your home does not make a home smart.
Research by Coldwell Banker showed that most people think a home can be considered "smart" if it has smart security, temperature, lighting and safety. When asked about what needs to be in a home for it to be considered "smart," 63 percent said security e.g. alarm systems, 63 percent said temperature e.g. thermostats and fans, 58 percent said lighting and 56% safety e.g., fire / carbon monoxide detectors.
Importantly, more than three-quarters thought that having just one category of smart technology in your home isn't enough for it to be considered smart. Specifically, sixty percent thought that for a home to be considered smart, it needs to have at least three categories of smart products.
The same report looked at what smart home technology would influence whether people would purchase a home. Home buyers were most attracted to smart security and temperature with 58% saying smart security would be most appealing and 56% saying temperature. The least popular types of smart home technology were smart appliances such as smart refrigerators, washers and dryers and entertainment.
A report from Barclays Mortgages found that homeowners really want technologies that will save time and money with cutting the cost of utility bills one of the biggest incentives.
Other market data supports these findings indicating that energy management will be a major driver of Smart Home household penetration. Worldwide, this is already a significant source of revenue with smart home energy management revenue being nearly $600 million in the US in 2015. Security devices are also expected to be drive Smart Home market growth with Business Insider predicting that 709 million IoT security devices will ship in 2019.
Wondrwall is a pioneering intelligent living system that makes your home adapt to your needs and desires – automatically controlling heating, lighting security and safety, with voice control technology to override any of our adjustments at any time. Rather than being a series of discrete devices from many different manufacturers, Wondrwall is a comprehensive living system – lighting, heating, security and safety – all in one.
For more information and a more complete overview, read our article on the future of smart homes and home automation.