Looking back on the mindshare of the various applications of the Internet of Things within the IoT conversations on Twitter, we see a long tail forming, which is to be expected. This aligns with our Internets of Things view, that growth will come from a heterogenous set of architectures enabling enterprises large and small to benefit from the initial cost savings and eventual revenue growth from IoT powered solutions.
Long Tail of the Internet of Things shows the relative mindshare ranking of IoT application areas outside of the big areas of AI, Big Data, and Industrial IoT.
You can see from the graph above that since the beginning of June, Smart Cities, Cloud, HealthCare, VR, Robotics and Smart Home have lead the humps on the long tail of the Internet of Things. Surprisingly, application with some of the most actual market traction, Asset Tracking and Smart Grid, grab some of the smallest amount of mindshare within the IoT conversation. This supports the assertion that as IoT moves from concept to deployment, the conversation moves outside of IoT and into the area where the impact is being felt, further supporting the idea that branding of IoT as a solution is slowing market understanding and adoption, a concept we detailed here.
We are tracking the entire Internet of Things conversation. You can watch it unfold using the Argus Analyzer, our Real-Time IoT Ecosystem Intelligence tool!
ADT’s Pulse App has never been one of the most loved Smart Home management apps on the market. While ADT has struggled to make the app customers use to control their monitoring service better with new releases over the past few years, they have failed at every turn. Their most recent attempt was on 15 Jun 2017. In the last 6 days, ADT has received more reviews for the Pulse app than in the past year, over 2000 reviews, almost all negative.
ADT Pulse Gets Update And Over Two Thousand Grumpy Users Complaining Of Myriad Bugs Including Failure of TouchID Login.
As you can see, not only is ADT trailing behind the dominance of Vivint and Xfinity Home, but in the hearts and minds of their customers, the experience with the Pulse app went from bad to worse. What changed? What about the new version is driving ADT customers in droves to vent their frustrations at the App Store?
Attribute Funnel for ADT Pulse App showing where the new version is frustrating consumers, overwhelmingly negative commentary.
In the funnel diagram above, the red shows what percentage of the over 2000 reviews mention specific topics negatively, the tiny sliver of green is the positive mentions and the gray indicates the span of neutral topics within the reviews. Overall, consumers heap vitriol on the stability of the updates, highlighted a number of bugs. Most pointed were the complaints on the loss of login using TouchId on the iOS version of the Pulse App. Consumers also flamed ADT on connectivity issues as the system switched between LTE and WiFi networks, frustrations with frequent updates requiring repeated logins to reauthorize or rearm their ADT systems. In short, a disaster. ADT has a lot they can learn from their competitors on how to deliver a quality user experience to their customers. Given the growth in DIY and the more delightful alternatives in managed services, ADT could be in trouble in the coming months even as overall Smart Home growth is increasing.
Do you delight or disappoint your customers? Do you want to know where your competition is vulnerable to disruption? You can watch the entire Smart Home market unfold using the Argus Analyzer, our Real-Time IoT Ecosystem Intelligence tool!
Apple announced the HomePod today! Yeah! Finally Apple has a simple multiuser interface to Siri so that all of those Homekit users can engage with their Smart Home investment without whipping out the app. Except it might be too late…
Apple HomePod Announced on 5 June 2017, with availability in Dec 2017, arrives three years after Amazon Echo is launched.
Clearly meant to compete with the Amazon Echo, the HomePod is a bit late on the scene, similar to Nokia’s late response to the threat of the iPhone, something I was on the front lines of. The difference here is that Apple is the one late to the party. Amazon’s dominance in this space will be a tough nut to crack, especially with their Community Garden approach to engagement. Even though Apple has opened up Siri to developers, the momentum behind Amazon in the home assistant category is eerily similar to Apple’s domination of the Smartphone market with the launch of the iPhone in January of 2007. When we look at the mentions of Alexa vs Siri across Smart Home Device and App reviews going back to January 2016, you can see the dominance enjoyed by Amazon (to be fair, we removed all reviews of Google Home and Amazon Alexa products (including Echo, Dot and Tap) from the dataset).
Amazon Alexa mentions dominate those of Siri within Smart Home Device and App Reviews
Homekit saw a blip on the scope when the new version was announced in September of 2016 but lost out nearly 8:1 to Amazon Alexa over the holiday season. Question is, will the HomePod shift this graph? Will we see consumers clamoring in Holiday 2017 for HomePod when pricing and performance are still unknown? Priced at $349, is it worth that much for Apple fans to display their existing high end bluetooth speakers with a multiuser voice controlled DJ? Time will tell…
Apple did nail one thing. HomePod is about music first and Smart Home engagement second. This echos, pardon the pun, what we are seeing about consumer use of Google Home and Amazon Echo. Music rules the Smart Home! Plus we are also seeing an increase in demand for smart switches, sensors and lighting as these voice assistants make it easier to control these oft underlook elements of the Smart Home rather than whipping out yet another app to make sure the guest room light is off…
As with all Smart Home devices, we’ll be tracking the launch closely as December approaches. You can already see the impact of HomePod on the Smart Home narrative in our analysis of the social conversation around the market. Will Apple avoid Nokia’s fate and make a dent on Amazon’s substantial lead or will Apple become the disrupted? You can watch it unfold using the Argus Analyzer, our Real-Time IoT Ecosystem Intelligence tool!
I know it’s only June 5th but we already have insights for what happened with Smart Home providers last month. Yes, we have data that fast! And what we are seeing does not bode well for the “do it for me” market overall. Vivint remains on top with an impressive gain in engaged consumers over the April 2017 but still is lagging behind Comcast from a Net Promoter perspective. In fact Comcast saw a significant boost in NPS even as the number of engaged consumers dropped, an indication that while their signups might have slowed during the merry month of May, Xfinity has done a tremendous job delighting their customers over all other service providers.
May 2017 Smart Service Provider Scorecard showing Vivint has the highest engagement while Comcast has the happiest customers
Alarm.com also so an increase in Net Promoter score over April 2017. Alarm is interesting in this mix as they are the platform independent Smart Home installers leverage to bring intelligence and security to their customer’s home. At some level, Alarm.com is a barometer for the long tail of professional installers. You can see they are out performing ADT, Cox Communications and even AT&T Digital Life. Could this mean that consumers are better served by independent Smart Home professionals?
Time Warner, Vivint, and Cox Communications all saw increased engagement over April, typically correlated to an increase in overall subscribers (or a new version release). Everyone else saw a drop in engagement. Only Alarm and Xfinity saw those few customers happier with their overall service while ADT continues to languish in both engagement and Net Promoter Score.
We have all the data and can help peek into the why behind the continued dominance of Vivint and Comcast or to understand what ADT needs to focus on to improve their UX. You can get the same evidence at your fingertips by signing up for a subscription to the Argus Analyzer. Find out more here.
