What’s the Matter with the smart home?
What’s the Matter with the smart home?
From smart homes to folding phones, here’s what we expect to see at the IFA trade show next week.
The article discusses expectations for smart home announcements at the upcoming IFA tech show in Berlin. While companies may unveil new smart speakers, cameras and robot vacuums, the smart home remains fragmented as the Matter interoperability standard has yet to fully deliver on integrating devices. The author argues the industry needs to provide more utility than novelty by allowing different smart devices to work together seamlessly. Examples mentioned include lights notifying users of doorbell activity or a robot vacuum taking on multiple household chores autonomously. Overall, the smart home needs solutions that are essential rather than just novel if consumers are to see the value beyond the initial cool factor.
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Part of what the article overlooks is that they're expensive, and most people aren't likely to replace something that already works fine, unless the replacement offers some unique functionality that they use, but doesn't currently exist.
For example, a smart light switch (50$) is 10x the price of a regular light switch (5$), even before the added complication of having to pair/connect it, or all the other issues that come with a "smart" home. It's not cost-efficient to put something like that in my home.