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Smart Home Industry in Holding Pattern, Conference Told

The smart home industry is stuck in a holding pattern between early adopters and the mass market, and optimistic industry watchers hope that voice control led by Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant tips the market to mainstream, a Parks Associates…

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conference in Burlingame, California, was told Tuesday. Voice control could be a benign Trojan horse into consumers’ lives for the smart home industry, some hope. Comfort levels vary in how far consumers trust a digital assistant, said Parks CEO Tricia Parks and others. Mike Buckingham, director-business development at August Home, asked, “How do these products all come together?” Voice is exciting to all, said Martin Heckmann, director-emerging business at garage door control company Chamberlain: There aren’t enough “robust” voice control experiences today to provide a “full suite of use cases to consumers as it relates to security.” Honeywell Vice President-IoT Partner Programs Scott Harkins said voice is “key” to smart home success. Getting to conversational voice is “critical,” he said. Voice control also could be a stopgap to doing away with user interfaces, said Parks analyst Tom Kerber.