Voice Controls Vie for Control of Smarthomes, NPD Research Finds
Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of smart home owners already use voice commands, with 61 percent of those consumers expressing an interest in wanting to use voice to control more products in their homes, according to The NPD Group Connected Intelligence Connected Home Automation Report.
The research also found that nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of smart home product owners used smartphones to control or monitor their home automation devices.
"This reliance on smartphones to control and monitor the smart home is due, in part, to app compatibility, as nearly all home automation devices have an iPhone or Android app," said John Buffone, executive director and an industry analyst at Connected Intelligence, part of the NPD Group, in a statement. "As apps and devices become more intuitive, voice recognition, and thus, voice control, will begin to play a more prominent role in the further development of the smart home."
The NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service also recorded that home automation sales are up 41 percent in the past year.
In addition to wanting compatibility, consumers also desire convenience, evidenced by the increased usage of voice commands in the smart home market, according to the research. NPD expects the number of voice-controlled systems to increase as the majority of smart home product owners have indicated a desire to better integrate speech recognition technology throughout their homes.