We’ve had some bold claims with regard to the Smart Home market this year. Our June analysis showed a significant drop in consumer demand for DIY equipment, mostly driven by a fall off in security cameras. Our refreshed analysis in August saw delight increase as demand slowed, a further indication that the main stream market might be leaving DIY Smart Home to the early adopters. Along the way, we have added new sources and new products to further expand our coverage. As a result, we are delighted to share the revised results of our analysis of Consumer Smart Home demand through September 2015. While the overall demand has increased, the same slowing trend we reported on in June and August persists, with September at the lowest level of any month this year.
DIY Smart Home Equipment Demand Continues to Grow But At a Slower Rate Than Earlier In 2015Where is the growth coming from? The rebranded Ring and other entry control brands have had significant gains this year while the novelty of smart light bulbs is starting to wear off. Even the darling that drove most of 2014, the humble security camera, has had only single digit demand growth for August and September. What does this mean? DIY Consumers are expanding from their first purchases of Thermostats and Cameras into other equipment to drive up their abode IQ. Though smart lighting has some the highest delight scores in our tracking of consumers, overall interest is falling as consumers are shifting from easy to install novelty products to more complex integrations.
Will the momentum of 2015 continue into 2016? Argus Insights will be at the Consumer Electronics Show in force, following soon after with our predictions for 2016. Let us know if you’d like to catch up in Vegas!
Argus Insights has been tracking all social conversation about Mobile World Congress, and is ready to reveal some of the most popular brands of the show. Our winners secured the most mindshare in their category, prompting continued engagement and conversation.
And the winner is… Cloud: Ericsson NFV: HP Smartphones: Apple Wearables: Huawei
Cloud
With cloud related announcements ranging from an Industrial Cloud partnership with Intel to a Connected Traffic Cloud to introducing a Volvo cloud platform, Ericsson gave MWC followers a lot to talk about
NFV
HP was driving interest in NFV through their proof of concept with Orange, OpenNFV partnership with Telefonica, and targeted comments from their CEO about improving infrastructure with virtualization.
Smartphones
Though the smartphone giant was not actually present at the show, Apple dominated mindshare and the iPhone 6 was awarded ‘Best Mobile of the Year’ along with the LG G3
Wearables
Huawei got people talking with the early announcement of the round, Android Wear enabled Huawei Watch.
For more details about why and how these brands won mindshare during the show, and an outline of overall trends plus winners and losers in several more categories, request a copy of our Mobile World Congress 2015 Report. Typically a $3,000 value, we are offering this report to our readers for free.
Gone are the days of fighting over the television remote. Now, you use your giant smartphone to keep up on emails while watching House of Cards on your tablet as your kids enjoy their own cartoons on Netflix or entertain themselves playing Temple Run on their own devices. The use of personal electronics for content consumption has taken off, and users are migrating away from large, communal televisions and small smartphones toward the happy middle ground of phablets and tablets to entertain themselves.[1]
Large screens brought large mindshare for Apple smartphones and tablets
In the midst of this large screen, small device trend, Apple has stalled the production of their new iPad to produce a larger device. Their iPad sales have been suffering, and they plan to target the cooperate market with these larger devices. A 12.9 inch screen and alleged plans to add USB ports and an optional attachable mouse and/or keyboard are blurring the lines between tablet and laptop. A similar phenomenon occurred when Apple released the larger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus handsets. Sales of the big smartphones have “been cannibalizing…iPad sales.” Apple CEO, Tim Cook, has been quoted to say that this is a good problem to have, as the company is merely making competition for itself. [2]
Small & large Apple tablets see more consumer feedback than Samsung’s Pro Tab line
Apple smartphones are competing with Apple tablets, while those same tablets have the potential to compete with Apple laptops, but consumers are far more interested in Apple tablets than those made by Samsung. Big or small, Apple’s devices see more consumer reviews.
Although they are outshining the competition, Apple must compete with themselves as growing screen sizes shift usage expectations. With the introduction of their larger, more cooperate focused tablets, Apple is beginning a targeted, niche enterprise in which iPad users can easily crunch numbers on a spreadsheet and compose documents, or watch Netflix and play games.
Argus Insights will continue to track consumer engagement in the tablet and smartphone markets. Check back to hear more about the progression of user experience as it pertains to screen size and to follow the launch of new products. We monitor various consumer electronics markets as well as B2B infrastructure conversation. Please contact us with any questions or business inquiries.
Interested in who & what won mindshare during Mobile World Congress? Request a free copy of our Post MWC Report.
Find Out Which Brands and Products were the Biggest Winners in Barcelona
Argus Insights has been monitoring social conversations at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Before MWC, we hosted a webinar highlighting the brands and products that drove the most mindshare heading into the showcase, for which the slides and presentation are now available to download. Simply fill out the form and we’ll send that your way immediately.
Now that the event has passed, find out which brands, products, and tech trends were sparking interest during MWC. Argus Insights would also like to offer a free Post MWC 2015 Report (usually valued at $3,000) as a gift. The stories that we are finding are just too good that we believe everyone can benefit from the data. The world is talking and we’re listening, take advantage of our comprehensive analysis:
Discover what topics are most important to consumers
Examine market trends and consumer preferences
Gain actionable insight
If you want to stay up to date with trending social content, sign up for our weekly newsletters in the Smartphone, Wearable, Home Automation, and SDN/NFV markets. Leverage Argus data to gain an upper hand in the marketplace.
As the flurry of conversation around Mobile World Congress continues, we looked to the popular links shared on social media before the event began to find out what content is gaining the most attention. This shared links report is specially tailored to gain insight into what NFV & SDN news was capturing mindshare in conversation just ahead of Mobile World Congress.
Within NFV conversation, Brocade gained the most mindshare as their promotional video featuring how the IBM Cloud Orchestrator and Brocade Vyatta router is being used to make a more secure cloud and list of MWC speakers were shared several times. OPNFV and Dell’s dedicated MWC pages also generated interest along with a Light Reading article predicting that SDN & NFV will be hot topics during MWC.
Light Reading Predicts SDN/NFV will be hot topics at MWC 2015
12
Popular Shared Links about NFV at MWC on Social Media 2/23-3/1
The majority of SDN focused shared links were related to Brocade as well. People shared several articles from Brocade’s blog, including posts about SDN Applications, SDN for Mobile Network MWC Preview, and a list of Brocade’s MWC Speakers. PLUMgrid saw interest around their press release, which highlights their plan to showcase SDN for Internet of Everything at MWC, and Light Reading’s article predicting that SDN & NFV will be hot topics during MWC generated interest in SDN as well.
Popular Shared Links about SDN at MWC on Social Media 2/23-3/1
Argus Insights will continue to track Mobile World Congress mindshare, so keep an eye on this blog. If you are interested in a comprehensive report of who and what won at MWC 2015, we are happy to send you the Argus Insights complete MWC 2015 Report when the show is over.
