QA Cafe announced a test to improve interoperability of IoT and smart home products so they “operate as intended before they are deployed.” Its new PassPort IoT test emulates a home network, enabling "repeatable, reliable testing with clear pass/fail results" for IPv4, IPv6, and Wi-Fi devices, said the company. Smart home products that use Zigbee, Z-Wave or Bluetooth can be tested with PassPort through a smart hub, and all devices under test can connect to the cloud services they need while still being tested through PassPort, it said. Issues with interoperability and security have slowed consumer IoT adoption, said the company Tuesday.

The Zigbee Alliance’s rebranding as Connectivity Standards Alliance signals that its approach to connectivity in the IoT space may be more "inclusive,” Parks Associates analyst Patrice Samuels told us. The more expansive term focuses on what Samuels called the “foundation for the success for the smart home”: connectivity. The name change was announced Tuesday (see report, May 12 issue) along with the retitling of Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) to Matter. Years have passed without any protocol achieving dominance in the IoT, Samuels said, and competition among protocols “inhibited industry progress through poor user experiences and consumer hesitance to buy products because of the fear of interoperability issues.” Project CHIP, which launched at the end of 2019, was a step in the right direction, indicating an industry perception that “there is more to be gained from working together on standards than competing,” Samuels said. The move away from the Zigbee name likely means changes to the protocol, too, toward being more open and capable of communicating with other standards, she said. The charter of Project CHIP, now Matter, is to make smart home products easier to produce for manufacturers and developers, said Samuels, noting “the quest for interoperability in home automation is a long one," beginning before the current generation of smart home devices that emerged 8-10 years ago. What makes Matter different is participation by nearly all major smart home players. If the collaboration succeeds in “truly removing the work of interoperability from the consumer’s plate, the vision of the smart home will have taken a meaningful step forward,” she said.

Cree Lighting is selling its Connected Max smart home LED bulbs at Lowe’s, said the company Tuesday, including new full-spectrum tunable-white smart bulbs ($12.99) in A19, ST19 candelabra and globe designs, and a 75-watt equivalent 6-inch downlight, which also has color-changing capability ($19.99). The company’s Connected Max app was updated to add SmartThings compatibility and routines such as “dusk to dawn,” which automates lights to turn on at night and off during the day, and "vacation mode," which turns lights on and off in a random pattern to make the home appear occupied. Cree Lighting retained much of its lighting-related IP after Cree Inc. sold off the lighting division to Ideal in May 2019, a spokesperson told us. A company goal is to deliver easy-to-use products, which spurred development of bulbs controllable via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi without the need for a hub, she said. Cree’s “follow the sun” feature has guided setup for consumers who want the color temperature of their lights to gradually shift over the course of a day to mimic natural sunlight, she said.

Of the 42% of U.S. broadband households that don’t own or plan to buy a smart home device, 17% say they would likely buy one if the cost were lower, reported Parks Associates Monday. "Price is a major barrier to smart home adoption, especially among younger heads of household, who recognize the value but feel priced out," said analyst Patrice Samuels. Discounting product prices and bundling products to bolster value are ways manufacturers can attract consumers who rank affordability in their top three purchase considerations, Samuels said. Bundling of smart home devices such as plugs, light bulbs or thermostats with a smart speaker can introduce the automated home experience to consumers through a leading entertainment device that can be used to stream music and control smart home functions, said Samuels. More than 50% of broadband customers who don’t own or intend to purchase a smart home device, led by older consumers, say they don’t see benefits to such products. "Familiarity with devices is increasing, but value perception is not,” she said. Brands should emphasize pragmatic value propositions such as energy savings, loss prevention and safety, Samuels said.

Some 43% of multidwelling unit residents owned a smart home device in 2020 vs. 30% in 2019, reported Parks Associates Monday, saying the MDU market has become more important to manufacturers as they look to drive overall smart home market adoption. Property managers can use sensors to identify HVAC equipment inefficiencies that waste energy and use smart thermostats, lights and outlets to manage energy use in buildings more effectively, said analyst Patrice Samuels. Parks’ virtual Smart Energy Summit is Wednesday.

Perceived high prices are a top barrier to smart home adoption, said Parks Associates Tuesday, leading providers and manufacturers to launch lower priced products and discontinue some premium products. It cited Apple’s HomePod mini and a new, lower priced Google Nest thermostat with a lean feature set. Some 44% of consumers who don’t own or plan to buy a smart home device gave price as the top reason, followed by perceived lack of benefits and data and privacy concerns, said Parks. “Companies are betting that getting one device in the home, even as a loss leader, will convince consumers of the value of smart home devices and inspire future purchases,” said analyst Patrice Samuels.

Billions of dollars in potential value is being lost in the smart home market because data isn’t being used fully, ABI Research reported. The market must support more “standardized and straightforward data sharing” between smart home players, OEMs and service providers to capture untapped revenue streams, said analyst Jonathan Collins. Data is leveraged in silos, typically by the largest smart home platform providers to support their own core business revenue streams, either advertising, hardware or retail, he said Thursday. “The industry has started to address proprietary data’s limitations,” said Collins, citing initiatives such as Project Chip (Connected Home over IP), which has support from the largest players in the industry to drive data interoperability between smart home device and smart home management platforms. To realize wider value, “the industry will have to address similar strategies for making smart home data available from smart home platforms to third-party applications,” he said. The analyst recognized Vivint for discussing the potential value of data. Consumer privacy and data regulation remain hurdles in the market, which won’t begin to scale until mid-decade, he said. By 2030, ABI forecasts smart home data access will be a $2.7 billion market.

Smart home device shipments grew 4.5% year on year in 2020 to 801.5 million units, said IDC Friday, growing to an estimated 1.4 billion in 2025. Smart home devices such as streaming sticks, smart speakers, security devices and smart lights performed well, as consumers shifted spending toward the home and away from vacations and dining out, said analyst Adam Wright. The U.S. represented most shipments and is forecast to ship 451.3 million units in 2025, but China is forecast to overtake the U.S. by the end of 2024, growing at a 21.9% compound annual growth rate, said the researcher. Video entertainment devices at 27.6% will be the largest share of shipments in 2025 on falling prices and feature advances such as 8K, HDR, larger sizes and integration with smart assistants, said IDC. Growth in the maturing smart speaker and display segment will slow as consumers look for other form factors to access smart assistants, including thermostats, appliances and TVs. Ongoing concerns about security and privacy will limit the smart home device market, along with consumers’ price sensitivity to upfront and ongoing costs of devices and services and macroeconomic conditions, it said.

About 23% of U.S. broadband households that recently bought a smart thermostat did so due to an incentive, discount or rebate from their energy provider, blogged Parks Associates Wednesday. Six in 10 acquired their device less than two years ago, it said. “Eighty-four percent of households take some mindful action to reduce energy consumption," including 45% that adjust a thermostat to save energy, said analyst Patrice Samuels. Smart thermostats’ ability to automate energy-saving actions drives product appeal, she said. The majority of consumers who don’t own or plan to own a smart product say saving money on energy bills, incentives to lower the cost of insurance premiums or rebates on smart products “would positively influence their likelihood to buy.”

Savant is using GE Lighting's smart bulb platform to expand the market for tunable lighting, Angie Larson, Savant senior vice president-customer operations, told us Tuesday. Tunable bulbs are available now with a basic app for consumers, Larsen said, but Savant will be "vastly improving" the app experience for retail and dealers in May. Until recently, Larson said, "quality, tunable lighting has been limited to luxury new construction projects," but Savant plans to use the GE Lighting platform to reach consumers who will be able to experience "in-demand wellness benefits while creating vital new opportunities for our dealers.” Larson gave as an example Savant's daylight mode, which aligns lighting automatically with the natural circadian progression based on time of day. The Savant app intelligently adjusts for factors such as geography, time zone and season. To deliver key functionality, including wellness benefits, tunable lighting "must be connected to a smart home ecosystem," she said. The smart home company is one of six lighting companies sponsoring the ProSource Lighting Technology and Learning Center in the Dallas Market Center, slated to open April 1 (see 2103010035). Savant, known primarily as a premium home control brand, bought GE Lighting last year (see 2005270047). At the time, Savant President J.C. Murphy told us GE Lighting would continue to "innovate in the lamp space," and the company would expand the C by GE connected ecosystem at retail. Savant’s expertise “will help us accelerate development for the smart home space," he said. Savant is also talking to the builder community, she said.