Voice-Controlled Speakers Hottest Holiday Category, as Tech Spending Rising, Says NPD’s Baker
Voice-controlled speakers “are probably the hottest category for this holiday” in tech, said Stephen Baker, NPD vice president-industry analysis, on a Monday webinar. The category is “just going to explode, and a big reason for that” is that the two…
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biggest platforms, Google Home and Amazon Echo, “are being sold by brands that really don’t care about price,” he said. That NPD estimates U.S. household penetration of voice speakers is only 10 percent means they have “a long way to go” before reaching consumer mainstream, he said. He sees holiday tech revenue rising 0.5 percent this year, the sector’s best Q4 performance in years. “Consumers, as we’ve seen all through 2017, are not put off by higher prices,” he said.