Smart home devices of all different kinds are finding their way into households all over the world, from lights to sensors to cameras, but according to new research not everyone in Australia is privy to the connected home craze.
Connected home or smart home devices include automated devices that can be controlled by a companion app, your voice or other gestures to improve the connectivity and performance of your household.
New research from smart lighting company LIFX suggests that more education is needed with more than two-thirds of the nation no extremely confident about what ‘smart home’ even means.
Despite this, more than half of the population intends to make their home smarter, which means companies such as LIFX will need to do more to make information readily available for consumers to educate themselves about the benefits of smart home devices.
Marc Alexander, Founder and CTO of LIFX, commissioned the research study to ‘get a feel for the market’s understanding of smart home technology’.
The results, however, did not surprise Alexander, who notes the definite appetite in the market with Australian seen as early adopters of the tech.
Marc does highlight how consumers tend to jump into new technologies without fully understanding the benefits or applications, which Marc says, ‘proves we have a job to do in terms of educating’ users about smart home functionality.
Of those early adopters, 20% who rated their current home as being ‘smart’ have devices in three rooms, with the bathroom ranked as the lowest in terms of connected home penetration.
The living room was highlighted as the smartest room in Australian households, with 80% of users having smart devices installed.
While the humble lightbulb is 150 years old, 80% of Australians who intend to turn their household into a smart home in the next five years have smart lights at the top of their shopping list.
Beyond just illuminating spaces in new ways, Marc notes the security benefits of smart lighting, which can be automated while away from home.
Unfortunately, as with any new technology, especially one as pervasive as connected home devices, privacy is always a concern for users, with many citing mistrust in the security of virtual assistants.
One surprising aspect of the study revealed that seven out of 10 Aussies think vacuum cleaners are the smartest of the smart home
technologies, something that did surprise Marc.
Another interesting revelation is the difference between tech adoption for men and women, with 76% of men more likely to embrace smart home tech compared to just 43% of women.
