Panasonic introduced the HomeHawk Floor home monitoring camera integrated in a floor lamp design. The camera has a 140-degree wide-angle lens, motion-activated light, mic and speaker and is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Features include 1080p Full HD video recording, two-second prerecording before motion detection, smart control via app, geofencing and backup battery power via eight AA batteries. Users can select areas in the camera’s view to receive motion alerts, said the company Monday. The lamp, adjustable to 2-, 4- or 6-foot heights, is available in black ($249) or gray ($279); a shelf version is $129.

Some 137 million smart devices costing $16 billion are on track to ship globally this year, said a Wednesday Futuresource report, up 37 percent from 2018. A slowdown in home hub sales is being offset by growth in other segments, it said. The smart home category is one of the fastest growing in CE, said analyst Jack Wetherill, with security and monitoring, led by smart locks and video doorbells, expected to have the biggest share. Retailers and service providers are playing a key role in raising awareness and getting products in front of consumers, said Wetherill. Voice assistants are a “key ingredient” for smart home device adoption, but it’s not routinely being built into devices, said the analyst, noting most vendors offering voice capability are taking a “works with” approach that requires a separate smart speaker. Amazon and Google’s approach to “only provide certification to devices that integrate a single VA technology” reduces the volume in the “built in” device market, he said: “Smart home may begin to follow the lead of home audio” where the Sonos One smart speaker allows users to choose Alexa or Google Assistant, “albeit not both at once.” Bose has the same approach in its smart speakers and sound bars, he noted. Parks Associates reported Wednesday that a quarter of U.S. broadband homes plan to buy a smart video doorbell this year, and 25 percent plan to buy a smart speaker. Penetration of self-installed security systems increased by 10 percent over the past two years, it said. Some 43 percent plan to buy a smart home product this year, “but many markets have struggled to transform this interest into actual sales, specifically among new buyers,” said analyst Elizabeth Parks.

Nearly half of consumers who own or intend to buy a smart access device -- a smart door lock, a smart garage door opener or video doorbell -- value the ability to remotely allow Amazon package deliveries, reported Parks Associates Monday. More than a third (37 percent) of intended buyers or owners of would pay up to $1.98 per package for delivery inside their home or garage, Parks said. An increase in package theft from e-commerce has created “a new use case for the smart home,” said analyst Chris O’Dell. The prospect of package theft is an opportunity for smart home device manufacturers and service providers to boost consumer confidence by guaranteeing safe package delivery with in-home and in-garage delivery services, O’Dell said, citing Amazon’s April partnership announcement with Chamberlain (see 1904230033) for its myQ smart garage door openers. Among consumers who own or plan to buy a smart access device, 43 percent consider the ability for FedEx or UPS to perform in-garage delivery valuable, the analyst said. Traditional garage door openers have a typical life cycle of 10 or more years; smart access could provide an incentive to upgrade sooner, he said.

The EPA is taking a “fresh approach” to promoting Energy Star-certified smart thermostats, it said Monday, targeting eco-conscious homeowners who haven't switched from programmable to smart devices. The agency’s promotional creative will lead with environmentally focused messaging with the themes “A Perfect Climate Inside and Out” and “Perfect for Everywhere You Live,” it said. Media will include display and video advertising; paid social on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; paid search; content marketing; and a conversion-focused campaign landing page, it said.

Smart home company Vivint launched zero-down financing to help property owners and managers add its technology to multifamily properties “with no upfront cost,” it said Wednesday. The financing offering increases access to smart home technology and “levels the playing field for the multifamily community,” said Tom Few, senior vice president-business development. A Parks Associates report Tuesday cited low consumer awareness in the smart home market and said builder and multi-dwelling unit channels could help boost awareness through installations in model homes and apartments (see 1906250019). “Nearly any property owner or manager can now afford smart home, whether for a new build or to retrofit existing units,” said Few, citing the increasing number of U.S. households headed by renters, including 65 percent of millennials. As the “digital generation floods the multifamily market, owners and managers must look for ways to appeal to more tech-savvy renters,” Few said. Vivint products allow property managers to offer a new level of convenience and security for residents to control lights, locks and temperature; arm and disarm a security system; and view live video and recorded clips “from anywhere.” Property managers can use smart home products to “improve operational efficiency,” said the company: through an interactive dashboard, they can onboard new residents, fulfill service requests and manage vacant units over the internet. Vivint also provides property managers and residents 24/7 customer care and onsite support, it said.

Lacking consumer awareness and “low perceived product value remain significant problems for the smart home industry,” blogged Parks Associates analyst Patrice Samuels Tuesday. Limited information about smart home products led to “purchase avoidance,” Samuels said, saying builder and multi-dwelling unit channels could expose benefits of the technologies to consumers through installations in model homes and apartments. A fourth of U.S. broadband households believe a “move-in-ready house” would include smart home devices, said Parks, and among MDU residents, 19 percent see them as an “important consideration.” Among consumers who don't own or intend to buy smart home devices, 54 percent don’t perceive that the devices will benefit their lives, Parks said. Nearly a quarter of broadband homes own at least one smart home device.

Smart security solutions will drive automation revenue totaling more than $57 million by 2024, up from $18 million this year, reported Juniper Research Tuesday. The “do-it-for-me” model -- based on vendors and integration specialists offering advice, installation, maintenance and cloud storage for monthly or annual subscriptions -- is gaining ground, said the research firm. Hive, Vivint Smart Home and TP-Link are among the industry players it cited offering subscription packages, broadening the smart home value proposition with extra cloud storage, devices or superior video quality. Insurers, utilities, mobile network operators and e-commerce vendors will look to carve out a spot in the smart home market by capitalizing on existing customer relationships where they have trusted brand names and established billing structures, but they will have to partner with smart home providers to make that business model viable, it said. The smart home is also attracting blockchain vendors who hope to solve interoperability and privacy issues hindering global smart home adoption. Blockchain could solve interoperability issues between devices, but it would also create interoperability issues between different distributed ledgers and add a level of unnecessary complexity to the fledgling smart home market, it said.

The smart home will create new revenue streams for technology and service providers, drive efficiency and convenience for homeowners, and help address climate change goals by reducing the carbon footprint within the built environment, Navigant Research reported Tuesday. Analytics and automation are making the smart home a “dynamic asset for orchestrating how power is generated and used through automated devices and systems,” said Navigant analyst Casey Talon. Coordinating major energy-consuming systems such as air conditioning and hot water heating with distributed energy resources including solar, storage and energy efficiency measures will “maximize the value of a smart home in the Energy Cloud by offering demand flexibility into the grid,” said Talon. The market research firm recommends that architects, designers and developers use building information modeling; OEMs enhance solutions with digital capabilities; service partners explore partnerships with digital technology and OEMs; and utilities develop partnerships “for a stake in the smart home market.”

Sales of connected consumer devices will exceed 520 million units by 2022, including networked cameras, security systems and connected health devices, reported Parks Associates. While service providers are well-positioned to deploy, maintain and service the smart home, they generally don’t want to develop and maintain a proprietary system to do so, said analyst Brad Russell. Partnerships with vendors that offer turnkey solutions can enable providers to serve present and future use cases, he said. “Service providers need to re-position themselves for growth and gain a foothold in the smart home,” said Michael Weening, executive vice president-field operations for Calix, which sponsored a white paper for Parks on strategies service provides can adopt to operate in the smart home market. Innovators in the market are “starting with tools that provide visibility into the home and supporting systems so they can deliver best-in-class whole-home Wi-Fi coverage,” said Weening. Once the foundational brands and systems are in place, such as those from “tech giants,” it will be more difficult for new entrants to gain traction, he said. According to Parks research, 24 percent of U.S. broadband homes subscribed to professional monitoring at the end of 2018, over 50 percent of consumers with professionally monitored security systems had basic interactivity and 10 percent owned at least one networked camera. It found that a majority of consumers 50 and older said they were willing to pay $30 per month for an independent living system for fire detection, panic buttons, automatic alerts sent to loved ones and home security devices to deter intruders.

Smart-lighting company Sengled expanded its product line and cut the starting price of its smart LED bulbs to $24.99 for multicolor and extra bright versions to spur customer adoption, it said Wednesday. It also added a 1-meter LED light strip extension for $19.99 and a smart 2-meter light strip base for $49.99. A company survey of 1,000 Americans showed 42 percent believe smart lights are too expensive.