Voice Assistants Key to Smart Home User Experience, Growth, Says Juniper Report

Adoption of voice assistants will be a key factor behind global smart home growth, with 275 million voice assistant devices projected to control smart homes by 2023, up from an estimated 25 million this year, said Juniper Research. The introduction of scenes from Amazon and Google makes voice assistants the most convenient way to combine desired actions in the smart home, creating a more “cohesive” user experience across the smart home ecosystem, said Monday's report. Amazon’s “loss-leading strategy,” with hardware products tied to a product and service ecosystem, has established a lead in the category, with Juniper predicting Google will remain a “distant second.” It cited Google’s Nest brand’s $621 million loss last year. Monetized Alexa skills will “incentivise smaller vendors to take an ‘Amazon-first’ approach,” said analyst Nick Maynard. “Current AI capabilities coupled with routines means that Google’s greater AI investment will not displace Amazon’s lead,” Maynard said. “To compete effectively, Google must enhance the quality of its ecosystem.” The report predicts connected appliances will have better integration with voice assistants, which will be important for manufacturers to position connected appliances as hubs for the smart home. Connected appliance shipments are forecast to increase by 80 percent per year on average until 2023, spurred by “dramatic falls” in the average cost of connected appliances, seen dropping by 52 percent between 2018 and 2023.