We have always talked about the smart home as of the future of the technological world without realizing that, for some time now, smart homes have represented our present. Recent research has shown, in fact, how in the United States beyond the 54% of homes is equipped with at least one smart device.
The threshold has been largely crossed and more than one in two Americans has opened the doors of his home to the future. In Italy we have not yet reached such high numbers, but here too these technologies, with the increasing success of the smart speakers of Amazon and Google, are entering the common use of many people.
One out of two
Strategy Analytics conducted an in-depth survey of a sample of 2,600 Americans, estimating that 54% of the inhabitants of the country have an intelligent device inside their home, be it a simple smart speaker, an intelligent thermostat or a security camera. Smart homes have become normal, with increasingly popular devices, increasingly less expensive and easier to use.
European numbers are slightly lower, but they unequivocally certify the growth of the phenomenon.
If in the United Kingdom the percentage of diffusion of these products is around 50%, in Germany and France we are around 40%. At the end of 2019, smart speakers, the most easily purchased and configurable objects, were present in about 260 million homes, a number destined to grow steadily in 2020.
The Italian situation
In Italy the phenomenon, although constantly growing, is still not as strong as in other countries. It is estimated that users who have a smart device are around 12%. A rather low number that does not fully photograph the growth in the popularity of these objects also in our country. In 2018, the Politecnico di Milano had recorded a 50% increase in the market value of these objects compared to the previous year. Today at least the 60% of Italians have heard of smart devices and at least one Italian out of two has a device of this type at home, especially with regard to cameras and security devices.
Home automation is still perceived as a world linked to installers and professionals in the sector. A third of the Italian market is linked to the world of home security, smart speakers, on the other hand, occupy a market share of 16%, followed by smart appliances, still not widespread. Despite all the turnaround, it already seems to have happened and smart speakers seem to acquire more and more preponderance in the tastes of Italian users.
DIY technology
Italian home automation is less and less linked to the world of professionals, who have seen their market value drop since 70% to 50%, with e-commerce and direct sales operators who recorded growth of over 100%. Merit of aggressive pricing policies Google or Amazon, which offer their speakers at advantageous prices and a series of products connected to them that almost never require the intervention of an operator and that allow the user to install and use them in a few simple steps.
The user experience becomes easier and more accessible, and the smart home becomes a technology for everyone, without any distinction and with ever lower access prices. To all this must be added the birth of increasingly strong and innovative startups in the sector, which are taking advantage of this growth to launch cutting-edge and increasingly innovative products that will change the smart market in our country fairly quickly.
Slow handover
The Italian market is in a limbo between the old and the new, in a handover that will soon open the doors to the future. The growth of solutions "do-it-yourself"purchasing and installation is overshadowing traditional manufacturers and installers who, until recently, have dominated the Italian market. These companies, at least for the moment, have not been able to take advantage of the wave of new solutions, finding itself in marked delay with respect to the simplicity of the objects offered by the major international tech companies.
The Italians have understood that they can buy certain products independently, trying to install them on their own with the possibility of turning to professionals only in case of any difficulties.
To date, Italians are rather interested in lighting management systems (with the 20% interest in 2019), with smart speakers in second place, loved for their versatility and for the possibilities offered, even if still limited views.
To stop everything, there is also a diffusion still in progress of the optic fiber and broadband, a fundamental feature for the use of the internet of things. Until our country is covered by solutions that go beyond the concept of ADSL, it will be difficult for these products to spread in all our homes. Here too, however, the leaps and bounds of recent years and the forthcoming birth of the 5G, could change the situation quite a bit.
In small steps
The fundamental steps to ensure that the future becomes present in Italy are clear and, in a certain sense, already in more than full swing. The increasingly constant diffusion of the smart speakers of Amazon and Google, now available everywhere and at low prices, is an easy and cheap way of access, which offers a lot of fun and opens the doors to a world that for now appears poor, but which in future could grow even more. Broadband deployment will be the most important step of all that will hopefully be achieved as soon as possible.
We are still far from the high percentages of diffusion in other countries, but when all the pieces are well positioned in their place, sales will increase and all the possibilities and options will increase. Smart speakers are only the first step, the easy and cheap incentive that will open the doors to all the options connected to them, even more so now that the companies in the sector have made an important alliance to create a common protocol between their.
We also know how clear the US market has long been a sign of trends that for better or worse, in longer times, they arrive with certainty also for us: because the future here is still a bit far away, but it will soon become ours here I'm, arriving at our homes on tiptoe, like the smart speakers that will slowly become more and more part of our lives.