Parks Associates: Consumers Have Major Concerns About Smart Home Privacy and Safety

A study from Park Associates says that consumers are overwhelmingly concerned about smart home security and privacy.

Parks Associates recently released new research focused on consumer privacy concerns, AItechnologies in the smart home, and the smart lighting and video doorbell markets.

The firm’s consumer research finds safety and security are the leading value propositions for the smart home and 79% of US broadband households are concerned about data security or privacy issues.

Parks Associates also discovered in its research that 35% of U.S. broadband households faced a data security problem—including identity theft, data theft, or a virus/spyware infection—in the past 12 months.

“Many consumers do not trust companies with their data, nor do they believe they receive adequate value for sharing their data,” says Lindsay Gafford, research analyst, Parks Associates.

“Consumers will be more comfortable with connected products when security protections are built-in and companies are more transparent about how they collect and use consumer data.”

Consumer Concerns to Fuel Smart Home Purchases

According to the research, safety and security use cases will continue to drive U.S. smart home purchases for the near future:

Unit sales of smart light bulbs will exceed 10 million by 2023
Unit sales of smart video doorbells will exceed five million by 2023

Gafford adds that popular smart home technologies remain good solutions for integrators to offer their clientele due to the overall value they provide to homeowners.

“Lighting is generally considered a functional use case, but the ability to turn lights on and off via voice, controller, or smartphone offers peace of mind and safety enhancements, especially for seniors and people living alone,” comments Gafford

“These value propositions, combined with aesthetic enhancements from color options, mean that significant opportunity still exists in the smart lighting category.”

Bob is an audio enthusiast who has written about consumer electronics for various publications within Massachusetts before joining the staff of CE Pro in 2000. Bob is THX Level I certified, and he’s also taken classes from the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). Bob also serves as the technology editor for CE Pro’s sister publication Commercial Integrator. In addition, he’s studied guitar and music theory at Sarrin Music Studios in Wakefield, Mass., and he also studies Kyokushin karate at 5 Dragons in Haverhill, Mass. Have a suggestion or a topic you want to read more about? Email Robert at robert.archer@emeraldexpo.com