Kumbaya! Amazon Echo beats Apple, Google smart home efforts
A new report from Argus Insights, Inc. reveals that though homeowners are not that happy with their smart home devices, there’s one device that’s delighting the masses.
The report reveals that consumers are frustrated with the smart home devices offered by Google and Apple, specifically because their devices do not get along, but they are happy with how easy it is to integrate devices to the Amazon Echo.
According to data compiled from over 576,000 smart home device and application consumer reviews from January 2015 to the present, consumers are raving about the Amazon Echo, but Google’s Works with Nest environment is the least discussed ecosystem among the major players. The report also reveals that consumers are looking for an Apple-enabled Smart Home and frustrated that HomeKit has limited compatibility.
The report suggests that interest in Amazon Echo may be attributed to the product being broadly promoted during the Consumer Electronics Show last January. Consumers are also happy with the Alexa integration in the Amazon Echo. Alexa is the cloud-based voice service that answers your queries – like Siri but for your home. Aside from providing you information when you ask for it, Alexa is also able to read audiobooks and the news, reports traffic and weather, delivers information on businesses, keeps you updated in sports scores and schedules, play music and more.
“Consumers enter the Smart Home journey under the premise of creating an intelligent home that anticipates and serves their needs in a delightful, low maintenance manner. Along this journey, after users overcome the hurdles of installation and continued use through often broken app experiences, they are confronted with a mess of protocols as they approach expansion,” explained John Feland, CEO, Argus Insights. “Consumers are dismissing Google’s Nest ecosystem play, and we are seeing a real battle between Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa for the voice of the Smart Home. While Apple forces users to rely on iOS devices, Alexa will chat up anyone willing to integrate into the Echo API.”
“Consumers are taking notice that Amazon is choosing a community garden strategy over a walled garden approach favored by Google and Apple,” said Dr. Feland.
As for Google, the report claims that good hardware is no longer enough to propel the Nest line of smart home products in the connected market and that interest in Works with Nest and Nest Weave continues to decline.
To read the full report, click here.
Photo by turoczy
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