Voice-based technologies are gaining momentum in key industry verticals. In particular, voice-based personal assistants are enjoying recent notoriety, driven by use in connected speaker products, smartphones, and computers. This report examines the ecosystem for voice-based technologies, identifies the market leaders in voice assistants, and assesses the market impact of voice on product and servi...

Virtual reality has the potential to impact multiple industries with its versatility and ever-increasing applications, including entertainment, communication, and productivity, among others. With devices entering the market and consumers gaining interest in the technology, both hardware companies and content creators are eager to leverage VR technology to redefine the user experience. This report ...

Pay-TV providers are increasingly facing online challengers that have extensive expertise in using data to define and drive their businesses as well as user experiences. Big data is the new field for competition, and developing more strategic methods to leverage collected data to improve services and revenues is critical for the pay-TV industry. This report focuses on the impact of big data on the...

Several factors are causing operators to reassess the ways in which they package their pay-TV offerings, including carriage fee battles, changing consumer preferences, new regulations, emerging technologies, and aggressive competition. As a result, many are exploring opportunities for skinny bundles, a la carte offerings, or other options. This report examines global and regional trends in video...

Technology advances in data analytics, in modeling and mining unstructured data, are changing the way that consumers interact with products. Two-way voice and video analytics, combined with cognitive computing, are providing greater contextual awareness, enabling a new layer of highly personalized value-added service. This report discusses how technology is transforming the smart home user experie...

With margins for content shrinking in the on-demand digital video world, many digital video service providers must rely increasingly on advertising revenue to retain customers with low-price or free content services. The mass audience measurement tools from the past are proving ineffective in the age of personalization, requiring new focus by content and service providers to demonstrate the value ...

The purpose of this report is to inform companies about threats to U.S. professionally installed, professionally monitored alarm companies in the next 3-5 years. Specifically, it seeks to understand the potential impact of various competing DIY solutions on the monitored security industry. The report surveys DIY solutions and provides profiles of key DIY and traditional solution players and a fore...

The Evolution of Security and Smart Home provides our clients an update to Parks Associates’ 2014 report Competition in the Residential Security Market. These reports examine the competitive forces across the market segments addressing residential security as providers and manufacturers seek market expansion and enrichment through smart home system products and services. This report also identi...

Home energy management can take many forms. Smart meters enable numerous energy management services, smart products expand the potential for the number of devices that can be managed, and digital engagement of HEM customers continues to create new benefits for the end user. This report describes how technology will drive the evolution of home energy management....

This report continues Parks Associates’ coverage of the connected car industry by examining the connected car software developer sector to highlight innovations and new consumer experiences that will come to new car models in the next five years. It hones in on software and apps that can be built on top of a car’s embedded operating system, through mirroring technology from a smartphone, or vi...

Success as a small business is increasingly dependent upon technologies and services that can drive improved efficiency, productivity, and communication. This report examines the continued evolution of connected devices and cloud-based services and how they are enabling SMBs in new ways. The report identifies key vendors of these technologies and discusses partnerships and business models. It also...

This report examines the actual and perceived complexities and security risks that may serve as barriers to adoption of smart home and other emerging connected devices. It highlights the impact of these concerns and examines support strategies designed to overcome them. The report forecasts the technical support needs generated by smart home devices....

The growing complexities of modern connected lifestyles and the emergence of IoT products and services have changed the technical support needs of broadband households. This report examines the ways in which support strategies are evolving to proactively and efficiently address the issues created by adoption of new and emerging connected devices face. It focuses on measures that ensure consumers e...

This report focuses on the market innovations and trends within the ecosystem for connected TV home entertainment devices. The report covers key connected TV devices, including smart TVs, gaming consoles, streaming media devices, and new products and form factors as well as growth trends and consumer purchase and usage patterns. It includes five-year forecasts of unit sales for each connected devi...

This report provides an overview of the residential security market in Europe. It also presents issues that challenge the many companies seeking a piece of the European marketplace for security systems and adjacent smart home products and services. In sum, it provides a working knowledge of today’s residential security services, smart home products designed for peace of mind, and industry player...

Smart TVs and streaming media players provide similar streaming functionality, effectively competing for primary use as a consumer’s preferred interface to streamed content. However, each has unique strengths, features, and capabilities. This report examines and compares these platforms, including adoption, use, capabilities, partnerships, and market strategies of major players. The report asses...

Smart lighting for connected homes offers enhanced ambience, entertainment, energy, security, safety, and even health benefits. This report examines the smart lighting ecosystem of products and services for the connected home with attention to four industry segments: standalone lighting systems, lighting systems for self-installed home control platforms, lighting systems for interactive security s...

The connected kitchen is changing the competitive landscape for appliances, shopping, distribution, and meal preparation. This report highlights the major trends in the connected kitchen and their impact on the consumer and related markets....

As consumer interest and adoption of smart devices with energy management features increase, utilities are tasked with identifying strategies that can leverage this new connectivity. This report examines how smart products and smart home systems can be leveraged to enhance home energy management. This report assesses consumer demand for energy management and how it impacts the energy industry and ...

The smart home is evolving along multiple dimensions, shifting the competitive landscape for product manufacturers and smart home service providers. As the market shifts, the value chain will be dramatically impacted. This report provides an overview of forces driving change and innovation in the smart home, the impact on the value chain for smart home solution providers, and recommendations to ac...

Smart home controllers are now entering the marketplace and being adopted in higher volumes than in previous decades when the nomenclature was "home controllers" and being "connected" was not a given. The report focuses on segmenting and forecasting smart home controllers by type and channel. It also addresses emerging strategies – strategies designed to overcome the barrier inherent in a produc...

This report examines use of technical products and services among small and medium businesses (SMBs) of various sizes and within a variety of industries. It studies the primary technical challenges facing SMBs and examines the market for various technical services among this group. The report includes a five-year forecast for various IT and support services in the SMB market....

The CE industry has migrated from producing and distributing hardware to distributing OTT content and leveraging advertising models. This report discusses the impact of the shift on the industry as well as industry progress in benefiting from the new business models. It also assesses the transition from hardware to software as more content is streamed from the cloud and the impact on CE devices su...

This report analyzes market competition in the mobile payment industry, focusing on business strategies of payment platform developers including Apple Pay, Android Pay, PayPal, and other emerging solution providers. The report also examines external factors that will shape the market adoption trajectory, including merchants’ adoption of EMV standards, e-commerce growth, and the impact of payment...

Personalization is becoming an increasingly important element in the entertainment world. Competitors are using personalization features and technologies to define services, derive new revenues, and build a loyal base of customers. This report looks into trends in personalization of content services, technologies related to personalization, and the impact of personalization on monetization. The re...

TV Everywhere, multiscreen services, and catch-up apps give consumers unprecedented flexibility to access content anytime, anywhere, and on any device. These digital services typically rely on simple username/password authentication, which puts content investments at risk for piracy. This report includes profiles and relevant case studies on current vendor solutions to prevent TV Everywhere piracy...

The rise of over-the-top (OTT) video services has reshaped consumer habits and the competitive landscape for the video industry. This report examines the ongoing evolution of OTT video services, pay-TV services, and the video content ecosystem. In addition to global trends, success factors, and inhibitors, this report also assesses the future for the industry....

The evolution of OTT video services has led to increased competition in the market, including new partnerships, alternatives to pay TV, and changing priorities by consumers. This report includes insights into the new era of competition in OTT video and pay TV and assesses trends that affect the video ecosystem across global markets, including churn and retention. The report also includes global fo...

Mobile business is becoming increasingly competitive, and carriers are experimenting with strategies such as music offerings to reduce churn and generate additional revenues. This report examines the business models, partnerships between mobile carriers and music apps, and the strategic objectives among the different players in the mobile music ecosystem. This report includes case studies highligh...

The United States has long been considered a “melting pot” for different global cultures, and the digital world has given cultural groups easier access to relevant content. Pay-TV operators have capitalized on cultural diversity by offering limited packages of multilingual content to customers, but Internet video has allowed consumers to access a wealth of local language content anywhere in th...