Parks Sees Smart Home Controller Sales Doubling to 14M in 2024 Amid Privacy Concerns

Nearly 14 million smart home controllers will sell in the U.S. in 2024, doubling from about 7 million this year, reported Parks Associates Friday. “Device manufacturers are increasingly aware of the negative impact of security and privacy concerns on smart home industry growth, so major players including Google and Amazon are designing device features to restrict accessibility to consumer data.” Parks estimates only 37 percent of U.S. broadband homes “trust that companies with access to their data will keep it safe,” it said. The development of facial and fingerprint authentication “allows device manufacturers to establish a level of security stronger than voice but still convenient to the consumer,” said Parks. “Ultimately, voice technology will develop, where unique voices can be used for biometric authentication in and of itself, but current far-field voice recognition technology is not yet up to the security challenge.”