Recurring and other revenue at Vivint Smart Home grew 8% year on year to $24.7 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31 on 9% growth in total subscribers, the company reported Wednesday. Per user monthly revenue dropped $6.1 million year on year, it said. The smart home company's direct-to-home business added 14,590 new subscribers in Q4, up 49% from the 2019 quarter; national inside sales grew 22% to 43,964 subscribers, it said. A goal is to boost brand awareness, said CEO Todd Pedersen on an investor call: “We have less than 5% brand awareness in the United States, and we're a company with 1.7 million subscribers and literally no brand awareness.” Revenue outlook for 2021 is $1.38 billion-$1.42 billion with 1.8 million-1.85 million subscribers. Chief Financial Officer Dale Gerard said guidance is cautious due to supply chain concerns. One of Vivint’s competitive advantages is ownership of the technology stack, said Pedersen, listing sales, installation, monitoring, ongoing service, technical support and “the entire feedback loop,” while also integrating with other products such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Shares closed down 10% Thursday at $17.37

Hi Solutions completed an equity exchange with RC-1 to become a public company as the smart home vendor seeks to supply home users and enterprise customers with “virtual knowledge workers.” The company said Friday its artificial intelligence-powered customer monitoring, care and support engine reduces stress and boosts productivity in homes that have become a “mission control center” for work, education, faith, wellness and entertainment. CEO John Parker said the digital home and home integration markets are expected to exceed $120 billion in the next five years, “and there is no leading national service provider of scale and merit.”

Half of U.S. consumers own at least one smart home device, up from 35% in January 2020, reported NPD Wednesday. Security cameras remain the most commonly owned smart home device, but security systems (up 44%), smart garage door openers (up 21%) and smart lighting (up 19%) had the largest one-year gains in adoption, it said. Security is a “key motivator” in smart home device purchases, but with many consumers shifting their focus to home projects during COVID-19 restrictions, “we saw growth in more convenience-driven categories,” said NPD. Unit sales of smart lighting increased 43% in 2020, compared with 17% growth in 2019, it said.

About 23% of U.S. broadband households owned three or more smart home devices in Q4, up from 19% in 2019; just over a third own at least one, said Parks Associates Thursday. The connected home market has shifted, from one or two “hero devices” driving overall adoption to a group of products “combining to deliver targeted use cases," said President Elizabeth Parks.

Amazon didn’t comment Tuesday on a Bloomberg report it’s developing an Echo product with a wall-mount touch screen similar to smart home control systems from brands including Control4. According to the report, Amazon’s Lab126 hardware division is designing an Alexa-based “digital command center” that would show calendar events, control locks and lights, and play music and video, including videoconferencing sessions. The 13-inch or smaller panel could launch at the end of this year or next, though plans are early and the project could be scrapped altogether, it said. An Amazon spokesperson cited company policy not to comment on speculation.

Eleven percent of U.S. broadband households own a smart light bulb and 9% a smart plug, Parks Associates reported Thursday. That’s up from 8% and 6% in 2018. "COVID-19, and a growing focus on green energy solutions, has added new drivers to adoption of home energy management products," along with other technology helping homes "save energy," said President Elizabeth Parks. The research firm plans a Smart Energy Summit virtually Feb. 23-24.

Lennar is offering Ring smart home devices as standard in Lennar Communities Connected by Ring, blogged the company Tuesday. The houses have pre-installed smart home devices that can be monitored and controlled from anywhere via the Ring app, it said. Homes can be designed to adapt to buyers’ needs, said Ring founder Jamie Siminoff. Lennar Executive Chairman Stuart Miller said Ring’s mission of “making neighborhoods safer aligns perfectly with ours,” and its suite of smart home products “simplifies life rather than complicating it.” Lennar connected homes include a Ring security system that alerts homeowners when doors and windows are opened or a motion sensor is triggered. When an alarm is activated, a Ring Listener sends mobile notifications to the Ring app. A Flo by Moen smart water shutoff valve protects against leaks. An eero Pro 6 mesh router provides Wi-Fi, and Honeywell supplies the T6 Pro Z-Wave smart thermostat. Ring’s Video Doorbell Pro delivers instant alerts on the app when visitors press the doorbell or trigger motion sensors, Ring said. Homeowners can see and speak to visitors from their smartphones or let them in by unlocking the door from anywhere using Level Lock on the app. For packages from Ring parent Amazon, they can use Key by Amazon for contactless delivery inside the garage with the LiftMaster myQ Smart Garage Control, also included in the package. Not all devices can be controlled by the Ring app, said a disclaimer. The eero router’s network settings have to be managed by the eero app, and the LiftMaster smart garage door has to use the myQ app, accessible from the Garage tile via the Ring app. Residents can stay in touch with community members through the Neighbors app, which provides “hyper-local” real-time alerts from neighbors, the Ring team and, in some areas, local public safety agencies, they said. It wasn’t clear if the community feature uses Amazon Sidewalk. The company didn’t respond to questions.

A third of smart home device owners have had a technical problem within the past 12 months, reported Parks Associates Tuesday. A loss of wireless connectivity is the top issue, followed by an unresponsive device, said the report. Just under 20% of smart home device owners had a smart home device professionally installed by the company that sold them the product; 16% hired a contractor to set up a device, said analyst Patrice Samuels. With low prices key to driving market growth, many smart home device makers have do-it-yourself setup strategies that lower costs to consumers, said the analyst. Sixty-five percent of consumers who did a DIY installation want to do it again. The increasing use of DIY setup strategies helps manufacturers save on support costs, said Samuels, saying remote technical support channels are increasingly important in light of COVID-19 social distancing practices. Some 45% of consumers are now more hesitant to allow technicians in their home, she said. The type of remote support available to consumers will vary based on the problem they experience, but “it remains important to understand consumers’ preferences.”

Some 44% of U.S. broadband households, numbering about 20.5 million, don’t intend to buy a smart home device due to perceived high prices, said Parks Associates Tuesday. Other inhibitors are lack of a clear value proposition (38%) and data and privacy concerns (35%), said the researcher. Just over 10% said they're confused about setting up or using smart home technology; over 20% said they don’t want to lose control of their home to devices.

Arlo’s Touchless Video Doorbell, launched at CES, has proximity sensing technology to gauge a visitor's distance, said the company. Once detected, the visitor hears an audible chime and sees a visible light, signaling the doorbell has been "pressed" and the homeowner has been alerted -- so visitors don't have to come into contact with the doorbell. Also new is Arlo’s Essential indoor camera and touchless video doorbell with a privacy mode that allows families to choose when the camera monitors and records video. It has a privacy shield, which, when in disarm mode, disables recording, motion and audio detection until the shield is opened by the user via app. Users can also signal the privacy shield to open and automatically begin recording by starting a livestream or changing the camera to arm mode. Alarm.com, meanwhile, announced a contactless video doorbell that rings without requiring a button press, it said Monday, positioning the Touchless Video Doorbell as a way to reduce public health risks and make home visits and deliveries safer. To alert visitors to the contactless design, the housing has an international sign for touchless on the front showing a hand with a red line through it. Visitors stand on a doormat placed at a “safe distance” to ring the chime, said the company. The doorbell doesn’t use motion detection, instead using what Alarm.com calls “rapid and accurate person detection,” which it says reduces unimportant interruptions. When a person is detected, the doorbell triggers the existing chime in the home, sending a mobile alert to the homeowner, and starts recording video. Homeowners can see and speak with visitors through the doorbell’s live HD video and two-way audio instead of answering the door, it said. The doorbell helps homeowners and visitors maintain social distance and avoid encountering germs, bacteria and viruses that may exist on surfaces around the front door, said Anne Ferguson, vice president-marketing. As part of an Alarm.com system, the doorbell can automatically trigger other smart home activity, such as having lights turn on when a person is detected.